Miami R2 previews and picks: Nadal vs. Almagro, Murray vs. Young

Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will kick off their Miami campaigns on Friday. Nadal is facing fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, while Murray is going up against Donald Young.

(PR) Nicolas Almagro vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

It will be an all-Spanish showdown when Nadal and Almagro collide for the 12th time in their careers at the Miami Open on Friday. Almagro scored a 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 surprise in their most recent clash last spring on the clay courts of Barcelona, but he still trails the head-to-head series 10-1. Nadal is 2-0 lifetime at his countryman’s expense on hard courts, a surface on which they have not squared off since the 2009 Paris Masters.

Just reaching the second round is a relative success for a previously-injured Almagro. The world No. 74 missed the second half of 2014 with a foot injury, but he is 6-5 in 2015 and picked up his first hard-court victory of the season by outlasting Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 on Wednesday. Nadal is looking to bounce back from an Indian Wells semifinal loss to Milos Raonic in which he squandered three match points. The third-ranked Spaniard may not be quite 100 percent because of a fall in practice earlier this week–but he should be close to that number. At a tournament Nadal has never won, Almagro is unlikely to get completely wiped off the court.

Pick: Nadal in 2 losing more than 8 games

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Donald Young vs. (3) Andy Murray

Murray and Young will be meeting for the sixth time in their careers and for the second time this season. The head-to-head series stands at 4-1 in Murray’s favor after he prevailed 6-1, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 earlier this month in Glasgow, Scotland to help Great Britain oust the United States in a first-round Davis Cup battle. Their only other encounter more recent than 2011 also came in Davis Cup action, with Murray cruising 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 last season on the clay courts of San Diego. Young’s lone win came during this same part of the season back in 2011, when he pulled off a 7-6(4), 6-3 upset in Indian Wells.

Although he is a solid 16-4 this year, Murray has experienced extreme ends of the spectrum in that he has been positively ice cold in losses. The fourth-ranked Scot is coming off a blowout Indian Wells semifinal setback against Novak Djokovic, who also trounced him in the last two sets of their Australian Open final. Murray got clobbered by Borna Coric in Dubai, as well, but he played stellar tennis in between in Davis Cup. Young (first-set retirement from Yen-Hsun Lu) had a routine day at the office just like Murray (first-round bye, practice with Gilles Muller) on Wednesday. The 44th-ranked American is now 14-7 for what is on course to become the best season of his career. Young, though, has lost 11 of his last 12 sets against Murray–almost all in convincing fashion. Moreover, Murray has reached the Miami final in two of his last three appearances.

Pick: Murray in 2 losing 7 games or fewer

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