2011 Mutua Madrid Open: Novak Djokovic vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez – Preview
Thursday afternoon’s play at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain will take off with some high quality action as the reigning world number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia takes on the 29th ranked Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open. The two men will be fighting for a berth in the quarter-final draws in the highly anticipated matchup of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 1000 tournament.
Mighty Djokovic proved too good for Kevin Anderson of South Africa, defeating him convincingly in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Madrid Open. Garcia-Lopez was successful against the Dutch qualifier, Thiemo De Bakker in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round to meet Djokovic in the round of 16.
The two men had last faced each other at the Shanghai Masters in 2010, when Djokovic outclassed the Spaniard 6-2, 6-3, in the quarter-final of the event. The world number two has a clean record against Garcia-Lopez, winning all the four encounters he had against the Spaniard. Djokovic has played against Garcia-Lopez once on clay surface, back in 2007 at Estoril, where the Serb won the three-set thriller in the quarter-final stage of the competition.
The mighty Serb is currently enjoying his best form ever and is still unbeaten in the running ATP season. Djokovic has won 28 matches in a row this year, bagging five championship titles, including the prestigious Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open. He has defeated the world number one Rafael Nadal and the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer more than once this year. Djokovic’s consistent performances elevated him to his career highest ranking of world number two, toppling over Federer. It will be an achievement of sorts if Garcia-Lopez managed to take the Serb down in the third round matchup at Madrid and break his inspiring winning streak.
Winner of two ATP titles, Garcia-Lopez had a brilliant beginning at the Madrid Open, upsetting world number 14, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, in the opening round. He has been in a decent form this season, with a win-loss ratio of 12/12. Although it is hard to imagine that the Spaniard will be able to break the winning streak of the world number two, Garcia-Lopez’s potential should not be underestimated. The Spaniard can as devastating as any top class player on his day and has proven his tennis skills a number of times before.
Currently on his streak, Djokovic looks to beat Ivan Lendl, who had a consecutive match winning streak of 29, way back in 1986. He certainly desires to extend his streak to a maximum and the kind of form he currently is in, it won’t be wrong to say that the Serb is the hot favourite in the contest. Garcia-Lopez can make his name in history by breaking this impressive winning streak of Djokovic but it will take something out of ordinary from him to take down the world number two.
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