We take a look at the selected quarter-final matches from the ATP Tour’s Barcelona Open taking place at Real Club de Tennis on the 26th of April 2019.
2019 ATP Tour | ATP 500 Series
Barcelona Open | Real Club de Tenis Barcelona
Selected Quarter-Finals | 26 April 2019
Rafael Nadal (1/20) vs Jan Lennard Struff (15/2)
There must always be added pressure playing on a court that is named after you. Rafael Nadal is a living legend of this event, calmly accumulating eleven victories over the last few years. But it would seem that a few minor cracks are starting to show in the clay-court king’s façade. He lost to Fabio Fognini in Monte Carlo and was down a set to lowly Leonardo Mayer in the opening round here. Unbelievably, had he lost that match it would have been the first time in his decorated career that he would have lost two consecutive matches on clay. It also broke a sequence of 30 straight career set wins in this event. But Nadal looked imperious against old whipping boy David Ferrer in the last round. He will clearly be the monumental favourite going into any match on clay and this encounter will be no different.
Jan Lennard Struff has been a surprise package in this week’s event for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, the 29-year-old German is far more renowned for his work on the double’s tour. Secondly, he has always shown a distinct preference for hard-courts. All four of his finals in double’s competition have come on the hard stuff. But this week has seen him capture the giant scalps of David Goffin and Stefanos Tsitsipas. He has certainly shown a penchant for taking down the big names this year. He took down third seen Alex Zverev in Indian Wells en route to an impressive round of 16 showing. Struff will clearly understand the enormity of the task at hand for him with this encounter. But he will no doubt take some solace in Nadal’s recent hiccups and will look to frustrate the Spaniard as much as possible.
I was quite surprised to discover that these two have never met on the tour. Look, I think it would probably be tantamount to insanity to bet against Nadal this week. Having said that, his slight wobbles in recent weeks may make the three set Nadal victory a more lucrative venture at 33/10.
Dominic Thiem (3/10) vs Guido Pella (23/10)
Dominic Thiem is certainly the likely successor to Rafael Nadal in terms of clay-court supremacy. He actually has the distinction of beating Nadal in each of the last three seasons on clay. That is a completely unheard of phenomenon and reflects his consummate prowess on clay. He lost to Nadal in the 2017 final of this very event. Theim has shown significant improvements over the past few years in terms of Grand Slam potential. He reached his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros last year while a quarter-final run at Flushing Meadows showed his all-court capabilities. Thiem has enjoyed a slightly weird season thus far, with his best result by far coming at Indian Wells. His triumph was arguably as significant as his French Open Final and could be the harbinger of things to come for the Austrian.
Argentine Guido Pella is the very definition of a clay-court specialist. All of his significant success has seemed to come exclusively on clay. All five of his career ATP finals have come on clay and three of them have been within the last year. He reached the Croatian Open final last year. He then lost in Argentina this year prior to capturing that maiden title in Sa Paulo. He just rose to a career-high ranking of 32 in the world rankings. But ignoring historical clay-court form, his form this year has been superb. He lost in the Cordoba Final whilst also reaching the semi-finals in his home event in Buenos Aires. He has yet to drop a set this week, with a rousing opening round victory over 6th seed Karen Khachanov. Pella seems to be in a great spot right now and will have no fear going into this match.
This will be their fifth ever meeting and their head-to-head stats are dead even at two apiece. Pella won their first two encounters while Thiem flipped the script with two victories last year. I just think that Pella is primed for an upset here, especially considering the price.
