The King of Clay is back and looked stronger than expected yesterday taking out Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the 2nd round of the ATP Barcelona Open. Playing his first real match in over three months, Rafael Nadal enjoyed his time on the court.
In the end it was a rather easy win in a match that only last 1 hour and 25 minutes. After the match Rafa commented:
“I have come back from challenges a lot of times in my career; it’s true that it gets more difficult when you are at an advanced age.”
Today he will face a much stronger opponent in Alex de Minaur and this will be the real first test for Nadal in this comeback. De Minaur will make the game more physical and should manage the lefty topspin from Nadal a bit better than Cobolli.
The 25-year-old Australian is not know for being extraordinary on clay though so it should be an interesting matchup.
Alex de Minaur is a player in form for sure and so far this season he has 22 wins out of 29, and a title at the Mexican Open.
H2H Nadal vs de Minaur
Nadal lead their head-to-head records by 3-1, however it was the Australian who won their last meeting at United Cup (3-6, 6-1, 7-5). Before that it was way back in 2020 since they last played each other.
Predictions and Odds
A tough game to predict and we can see this one going all the way. If Rafa can have a good start and adjust to the conditions we can see him progress to the next round, at one of his favorite tournaments. Some interesting value bets:
- Over 21.5 Total Games – Odds 1.80 | 4/5 | -125
- 1-2 Set Betting (Nadal to win) – Odds 4.00 | 3/1 | +300
