Rafael Nadal will contest his third-round match in Madrid against Simone Bolelli on Thursday. The winner will face either Stan Wawrinka or Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.
(3) Rafael Nadal vs. Simone Bolelli
Nadal and Bolelli will be going head-to-head for the fifth time in their careers when they collide in round three of the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday. All four of their previous encounters have gone Nadal’s way and it has been absolute domination by the Spaniard ever since Bolelli took the first set between the two players on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2009. Nadal has since drubbed Bolelli by the following set scores: 6-2, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, and 6-2. They have faced each other only once on clay, with the former world No. 1 cruising 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 at the 2012 French Open.
Bolelli has given himself a fifth shot at Nadal thanks to victories this week over Kevin Anderson and Luca Vanni. The 63rd-ranked Italian owns 15 ATP-level match victories this season and has reached three quarterfinals. Nadal, of course, is in a well-documented slump. But the No. 3 seed has to be feeling good in Madrid as the two-time defending champion and coming off a routine 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Steve Johnson on Wednesday. As their past history suggests, this is a difficult matchup for Bolelli and his one-handed backhand as he tries to contend with Nadal’s heavy topspin. And clay obviously won’t improve the underdog’s chances.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 5-7 games
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(10) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (8) Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka and Dimitrov will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Thursday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-2 following a 6-1, 6-2 beatdown by Dimitrov a few weeks ago on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo. Wawrinka took their only other clay-court meeting 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the same round (third) of this same Madrid event in 2013.
The two competitors, who played doubles with each other last summer at Queen’s Club, are both in desperate need of some momentum. Dimitrov has already done well to win two matches this week–over Donald Young and Fabio Fognini–but he is still just 16-8 on the season with no final appearances. Wawrinka is a disappointing 4-4 in his last eight matches. The ninth-ranked Swiss, who held off lucky loser Joao Sousa 7-6(1), 7-5 on Tuesday, is also dealing with off-the-court issues in the form of a recent separation from his wife. This will be more competitive than the Monte-Carlo mauling, but Dimitrov should once again have the edge.
Pick: Dimitrov in 3
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this was not a challenge for Rafa …Grigor will be the real test…Bolleli made little effort…however, I agree that Rafa looks more confident…well, let’s see him tomorrow…at least he did not have a long exhausting match this time…and that lob was insane…it’s been a long time since I’ve seen something that extraordinary from Rafa….
Vamos Dr.Nadal !!!
I think tomorrow will be more of the same. IMO
I can understand why some are not taking too much for granted re Rafa’s form because we have had many false dawns since the beginning of the year, but I fell he is streets ahead of where he was in Barcelona not least because he is now using his old racquet. He’s even got the swagger again.
LOL..true indeed…luckily we did not see that discouraging humble look in Rafa’s eyes today…we saw some real determination and belief instead…
I’ve learned to be cautious…if Rafa beats Grigor tomorrow he will definitely be on the right track…
Vamos DR!
I cant Rafa loosing to Grigor….esp as BFed has been struggling lately, but then again, so has Rafa!
I was nervous about Rafa playing Johnson because he is a big server, the kind of player that could cause Rafa problems when he is not firing on all cylinders. Once he got past him, I felt a lot ‘colmer’.
Nadal vs Dummy QF
Here is Rafa telling Bernardes he doesn’t want to be umpired by him again. 2nd clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWHAORQ54xo
This was the most recent request from Rafa for him not to ref his matches in the future after Bernardes gave him a time violation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOY1scQtjZA
It was never about changing shorts when Rafa had them on backwards and Bernardes didn’t force him to do anything. When Rafa explained, Bernardes was laughing.
This is the last off topic post I’ll do on this thread. My apologies.
I think Rafa is feeling better with his old racket. He isn’t spraying shots all over the place out of control. But I am being cautious because we’ve seen this movie before. Rafa gets a few early round matches against opponents who really can’t challenge him and wins easily. Then he bumps up against a quality opponent and —-? Will this time in Madrid be the charm? I sure hope so!
Go get ’em Doctor Nadal! 🙂
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