ATP Barcelona Open 2021: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction

ATP Barcelona Open 2021: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction

Rafael Nadal Stefanos Tsitsipas Andrey Rublev

Barcelona Open, an ATP 500 event will be held from April 19th- April 25th in the picturesque city of Barcelona in Spain. The tournament will be played on clay courts and the field will be led by Rafael Nadal, who is also an eleven time Champion here.

Apart from him, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Diego Schwartzman will be part of the main draw. Other noteworthy players are Denis Shapovalov, Roberto Bautista Agut, Casper Rudd and Jannik Sinner. 

Tournament Details:

  • Tournament: ATP  Barcelona Open 2021
  • Date: April 19 to April 25th, 2021
  • Number of Entrants: 48 (Singles), 16(Doubles)  
  • Venue: Barcelona, Spain
  • Surface: Clay Court
  • Prize Money: €1,565,480
  • Defending champion: Dominic Thiem 

Top Seeds at the ATP Barcelona Open 2021

  • Rafael Nadal (Spain)
  • Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)
  • Andrey Rublev (Russia)
  • Diego Schwartzman(Argentina)

Men’s Draw Prediction and Analysis

Top Half

Pablo Carreno Busta
Pablo Carreno Busta

The top half of the draw includes among others, the top seed Rafael Nadal, fourth seed Diego Schwartzman, sixth seed Pablo Carreno Busta and eighth seed David Goffin. Other notable names include Dan Evans, Cristian Garin and Kei Nishikori. Top seed Nadal has a bye in the first round. His first match of any degree of difficulty will be in the round of Sixteen, where he will face the winner of Nishikori vs Garin.

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Thirteenth seed Garin looks more likely to play that round of sixteen encounter against Nadal. Another round of sixteen match to look forward to will be Karen Khachanov vs David Goffin. The winner, which will be eighth seed David Goffin, will take on Rafael Nadal in the First Quarter-final. Rafael Nadal is expected to win that duet. In the lower division of the top half, we have two exciting round of sixteen matches to look forward to.

The first one is between Dan Evans and Diego Schwartzman. The second one will be between Fabio Fognini and Pablo Carreno Busta. From this lineup, the expected Quarter-final will be Dan Evans vs sixth seed Busta. Busta the Spanish clay court specialist should triumph over Evans in this match.  

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First Semifinal Prediction:  Rafael Nadal vs  Pablo Carreno Busta

Bottom Half

Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas

The bottom half of the draw has some strong representation as well. It’s led by the second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the third seed Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and not to forget the extremely talented eleventh seed Jannik Sinner. The first match of importance from the lower half of the draw will be the round of sixteen encounter between Roberto Bautista Agut and Jannik Sinner.

The winner of this match will play the one that wins the encounter between Casper Rudd and Andrey Rublev. The likely winner between Agut and Sinner, has to be Sinner. Afterall he has gotten the better of Agut in the last few encounters. Between Rublev and Ruud, Rublev will be the bookmakers favourite.  Thus, the third Quarter-final will be between Sinner and Rublev.

Rublev can be expected to win this contest. The bottom division of the lower half will see an important round of thirty-two match between Alex de Minaur and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Fokina will win this and face Tsitsipas in the round of sixteen. The winner of this match, Tsitsipas, will lock horns with the winner of the Round of sixteen match between Denis Shapovalov and Lorenzo Musetti. So the fourth and last Quarter-final will be between Tsitsipas and Shapovalov. The Greek second seed is expected to triumph in this contest.  

Second Semifinal Prediction: Andrey Rublev vs Stefanos Tsitsipas

Semifinals

Andrey Rublev
Andrey Rublev

The first Semi Final will feature Rafael Nadal and Pablo Carreno Busta. Nadal will be smarting from a Quarter-final defeat at the Monte Carlo Masters and will be looking to make amends. In this all Spanish Semi-final, the ‘King of Clay’ is expected to triumph.  

The second Semifinal stars Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Rublev has been in terrific form this year, and will be hungry to get into the top 5 and eventually into the top3. His record against Tsitsipas is at 3-3 overall and 1-1 on clay, but his good consistent form should help the Russian topple the Greek. 

Final Prediction: Rafael Nadal vs Andrey Rublev

Final

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

The Final between Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev will be a re-run of the just concluded Quarter-final contest between these two players at the Monte Carlo masters. But, this will not be the same Nadal, this Nadal will be hungry and expected to lift his twelfth trophy at Barcelona. 

To Lift the Title: Rafael Nadal

Also Read: ‘Rafael Nadal is the GOAT on clay’: Andrey Rublev