Scouting Report: Nishikori Looks To Extend Barcelona Domination

The fifth ATP World Tour 500 level tournament of the season takes place in Barcelona and the only Romanian stop is in the home city, Bucharest, of the first No. 1 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Ilie Nastase, on Aug. 23, 1973.

Barcelona Open Bancsabadell (Barcelona): The Top 10 foursome of Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet are the top four seeds in the 56-player field at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the oldest tennis club in Spain. This is the 64th edition of the tournament. Overall 11 of the Top 30 are in the field. In 2014, Nishikori broke an 11-year-old streak of Spaniards winning the title. There are two former champions back: two-time reigning champ Nishikori and eight-time winner Nadal. Ferrer is a four-time runner-up in 2008-09, 2011-12, losing to Nadal each time. There have been 11 all-Spanish finals in the Open Era, including seven of the last 11 years (all involving Nadal).

Rafa Top Seed: Eight-time champion Rafael Nadal comes into Barcelona with a 43-3 career tournament record and his 41-match winning streak in Barca came to an end to countryman Nicolas Almagro in the quarter-finals in 2014. Eight of Nadal’s titles came in the past 11 years (did not play in 2010). Last year he exited in the third round to Fognini, his earliest loss in Barcelona since a second-round loss in his 2003 debut as a 15-year-old (l. to Corretja). This is the eighth time Nadal is the top seed. He was playing in his 100th career ATP World Tour level final on Sunday at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo (vs. Monfils).

April Title Month: Nadal’s most productive month is April with 15 of his 67 career titles (going into Monte-Carlo final) followed by May (12), June (10) and July (7). In 2014, Nadal’s streak of 83 straight match wins on clay in the month of April ended with his quarter-final loss to Ferrer in Monte-Carlo. The following week he fell in the quarter-finals in Barcelona (l. to Almagro). It was the first time since 2004 Nadal failed to win an ATP World Tour title in April. Eight of Nadal’s titles have come in Monte-Carlo in April and seven in Barcelona (’08 in May).

Kei Reigning Champion: World No. 6 and two-time reigning champion Kei Nishikori makes his sixth straight appearance in Barcelona with a 15-3 career tournament record. Two years ago Nishikori entered Barcelona ranked No. 17 and he only dropped one set en route to his first career ATP World Tour clay court title (d. Giraldo). Last season Nishikori defended his title, again only dropping one set (d. Andujar). This year he comes in with a 19-6 match record and he won Memphis for the fourth straight year (d. Fritz). In his last tournament at ATP Masters 1000 Miami, he reached the final (l. to Djokovic).

Next Generation: There are three Next Generation players in the main draw, Alexander Zverev, Hyeon and Elias Ymer.

Spaniards to Watch: There are 13 Spaniards in the main draw, not including possible qualifiers. Four of the top eight seeds are Spaniards, led by No. 1 Nadal, No. 3 David Ferrer, No. 5 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 7 Feliciano Lopez. Ferrer, a four-time finalist, is making his 14th straight tournament appearance. Bautista Agut reached the quarter-finals last year and Lopez, who made his debut in 1998, is playing the tournament for the 16th time. Unseeded Nicolas Almagro is appearing for the 13th consecutive year. He reached the final in 2013 and the semi-finals thee other times (2006, 2011, 2014). Wild card Albert Montanes is making his 15th appearance since 2001 and he reached the semi-finals in 2004.

BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy (Bucharest): The two biggest names in Romanian tennis history, Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac, are part of the tournament title in the only ATP World Tour stop in Romania. This is the 24th edition of the tournament, which began in 1993 with Goran Ivanisevic capturing the title. Leading the way are Aussie wild card Bernard Tomic, who is the top seed and big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, who is the No. 2 seed. The other seeds are: No. 3 Federico Delbonis, No. 4/reigning champion Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 5 Marcos Baghdatis, No. 6 Guido Pella, No. 7 Paolo Lorenzi and No. 8 Paul-Henri Mathieu. The other former winner in the field is Lukas Rosol (2013).

Bernie Back, Top Seed: No. 2 Aussie Bernard Tomic, is the top seed and makes his Bucharest debut after returning from a right wrist injury. The 23-year-old Aussie last played at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells where he retired in the third round (vs. Raonic) on Mar. 14. Tomic comes in with a 14-8 match record on the season and his best result is a runner-up in Acapulco (l. to Thiem).   

Garcia-Lopez Defending Champ: Garcia-Lopez, who won the title last year (d. Vesely) and reached the final in 2013 (l. to Rosol) in his last two visits, has a 14-5 career record in Bucharest. Two weeks ago the 32-year-old Spaniard was the top seed in Marrakech where he lost in the quarter-finals (l. to Vesely after a bye). This season he has compiled an 8-10 match record with his best results the quarter-finals in Chennai, Sofia and Marrakech. He also advanced to the third round at the Australian Open.

Ivo Eyes Milestone: The oldest player in the singles draw, 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic, makes return visit to Bucharest after reaching the quarter-finals in his debut last year. The No. 2 seed is trying to earn his 300th career match win (299-268). He returned last week in Monte-Carlo after being sidelined for six weeks with a knee injury. Karlovic is also looking for his first match win of the season (0-5).

Dzumhur on the Rise: No. 1 Bosnian Damir Dzumhur has been attracting attention in the last month by reaching the fourth round at ATP Masters 1000 Miami, defeating No. 5 Nadal along the way and following up last week at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo where he qualified and beat No. 6 Berdych (l. to Raonic in 3R in third set TB). The 23-year-old has compiled a 10-9 match record and he has already surpassed last year’s wins total (8). He is making his main draw debut in Bucharest.  

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Birthdays

17 April – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (31)