2011 BNP Paribas Open: Rafael Nadal vs Somdev Devvarman – Match Preview
Spaniard Rafael “Rafa” Nadal, first seed here, will encounter Indian Somdev Devvarman a qualifier into the tournament at the fourth round of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open Today.
Ranked first in the world, Nadal has a 9-2 win-loss record for the season so far. He launched the year by winning an exhibition event at Abu Dhabi where he defeated his long time rival and current world number two, Roger Federer.
Starting on the tour, the Spaniard participated in the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha as the top seed. However, weakened by fever, he was ousted by Nikolay Davydenko. Two weeks later a recovered Nadal, participated in the opening
Grand Slam, the Australian Open. Top seeded at the event, Rafa made it all the way to the quarterfinals where he lost to compatriot, David Ferrer. This ended the Spaniard’s dream of becoming the first male tennis player since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand
Slams.
The king of clay who has nine Grand Slam title to his name, will face world number 84, Devvarman who has no career titles to his name so far. The Indian started off the year featuring in three ATP Tour level events including the
home event, the Chennai Open, where he lost to David Goffin of Germany. His next major stop was the Australian Open where he ensured his attendance as a wildcard entrant due to his outstanding performance in 2010. Playing this tournament for the first time,
Devvarman lost to Tommy Robredo in the first round. However, this tournament proved to be in his favour as he earned 150 ATP points which glided his ranking 28 places upward.
But later on, Lady Luck was not on his side again, as he lost to Federer in the first round of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship, moving his ranking 13 places down.
This is Rafa and Devvarman’s first ever meeting on tour. The Spaniard who received a bye into the second round already holds two titles here and is looking forward to his third. The top ranked Spaniard makes his way into the fourth
round after enjoying easy straight sets wins against qualifier Rik de Voest in the second round and local Ryan Sweeting in the third.
Carrying a stronger statistical position than Devvarman, Nadal is clearly the favourite to win today. Although the Spaniard outranks the Indian by a landslide in every statistic, Somdev is currently enjoying his best performance
at a Masters event as he makes it to the fourth round after defeating Xavier Malisse 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) in the third. However, the Indian needs to bring more than his A game to the courts if he wishes to upset the top seeded player here.
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