2011 Internazionali BNL d’Italia: Rafael Nadal vs. Feliciano Lopez – Preview
World number one, Rafael Nadal of Spain sets out to prove his dominance on the clay courts of Rome, Italy, as he takes on his fellow compatriot, the 40th ranked Feliciano Lopez in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The all-Spanish clash will be held at the Foro Italico on Thursday noon and the winner of the match will feature in the quarter-final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 1000 event.
No doubt the ‘King of Clay’, Nadal, is reckoned to be the most destructive force in on clay courts and his supremacy over the red surface is feared by all competitors. The Spaniard got a bye to the second round of the tournament at Rome and had a stiff contest against the Italian qualifier, Paolo Lorenzi to make it to the third round. The top seed dropped the opening set in the contest against the Italian but made a terrific comeback to reel the following two sets to register an emphatic victory at 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-0, to get one step closer to the quarter-finals.
The other Spaniard also strained hard to overcome his second round opponent, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the second round. Lopez cruised through the three-set thriller at 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to meet Nadal in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Although a fairly one-sided contest is anticipated when the world number one takes on Lopez in the third round, the capabilities of the unseeded Spaniard must not be underestimated. Lopez might feel some pressure of competing against the top ranked player but the hard-hitting Spanish is certainly capable of putting up a stiff contest to his opponent.
The two men have faced each other nine times before and Nadal has been dominating for the most of the time. Seven victories are attributed to Nadal’s name while Lopez has been successful two times to trail the all-time head-to-head record by 2-7. The two competitors have encountered three times on clay surface, with Nadal being victorious on all the three occasions. The most recent clash between the two took place this year at Miami Masters and Nadal again took his opponent down in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
The past matchups between the two players depict that there are clear possibilities of Nadal defeating his fellow compatriot in the third round contest and ease his way to the quarter-final. However, Nadal’s performances in his most recent matches raise lots of questions on his success in Rome. He has suffered a championship defeat last Sunday at the hands of Novak Djokovic in Madrid. He also appeared dull in the opening set of the contest against Lorenzi in the second round but managed to recover later. This might give a glitter of hope to Lopez, who certainly eye to strike a major upset by beating Nadal in the contest.
The top seed has already won two clay-court tournaments this year but his 37-match winning streak on the red surface was broken last Sunday at the hands of Djokovic. The agonised Spaniard will certainly tend to rebuild a new winning streak on his favourite surface from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and will step on the court on Thursday noon as the hot favourite.
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