Rafael Nadal is one win away from returning to tennis with a title. He will go up against Horacio Zeballos on Sunday in Vina del Mar.
Rafael Nadal and Horacio Zeballos will be squaring off for the second time in their careers when they clash in the final of the VTR Open on Sunday evening. Nadal eased through their only previous encounter 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the 2010 French Open.
The fifth-ranked Spaniard may not be in French Open form just yet, but he appears to be closer than anyone could have expected after seven months on the sidelines due to a knee injury. Nadal has hammered the opposition this week in Vina del Mar, rolling over Federico Delbonis, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, and Jeremy Chardy.
Zeballos isn’t a more difficult opponent on paper, but the unseeded Argentine is playing some of the best tennis of his life at the moment. In fact, Zeballos has won 19 of his last 20 matches dating back to last fall–a stretch that includes three clay-court Challenger titles. So far at this tournament he has defeated Diego Schwartzman, Pablo Andujar, Albert Ramos, and Carlos Berlocq.
This, of course, is a drastic and sudden step up in quality of opponent for Zeballos. He is by no means a pushover on this surface, but Nadal has improved with every match and the top seed should only get better with a title in his grasp.
Pick: Nadal 6-1, 6-2
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