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Road to RG: Nadal and Djokovic Headline Barcelona, Belgrade Draws


By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday April 18, 2021

The clay court season will continue at full throttle next week in Barcelona and Belgrade, with Rafael Nadal headlining a stacked draw at Barcelona, where he is an 11-time champion, and Novak Djokovic the poster boy at the Belgrade Open in Serbia.

Barcelona: Tsitsipas and Rublev in the mix

It’s a very stacked draw in Barcelona, with nine Top 20 players in the 48-player draw (all 16 seeds receive first-round byes). Monte-Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and Monte-Carlo runner-up Andrey Rublev are in the bottom half of the draw, along with Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Casper Ruud and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Nadal could face Adrian Mannarino or a qualifier in the second round, and his first seeded opponent would be Cristian Garin if the seeds hold. David Goffin or Karen Khachanov would be Nadal’s potential quarterfinal opponent if seeds hold.

Lorenzo Musetti, Italy’s *other* highly touted teenager, will face Feliciano Lopez in the first round and if he wins he would take on Auger-Aliassime in the second round. Sinner will face either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Egor Gerasimova after his bye.

Tsitsipas will face either Jaume Munar or Thiago Montiero in round two, while Rublev will take on either a qualifier or Benoit Paire.

The quarterfinals would shape up as follows in Barcelona, if the seeds hold:

Nadal v Goffin
Schwartzman v Carreno Busta
Bautista Agut v Rublev
Tsitsipas v Shapovalov

Serbia Open: Djokovic only Top 10 player in his half

The draw at Belgrade has opened up a bit after Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils pulled out due to injury, but it still packs a punch. Youngsters Sebastian Korda, Emil Ruusuvuori and Alexi Popyrin are in the mix, which will give the tournament some nice flavor.

Djokovic will face Soonwoo Kwon or a qualifier in his second-round match, after a bye, and if the seeds hold, he’d face Miomir Kecmanovic in the quarterfinals, and either Aslan Karatsev or Marton Fucsovics in the semis.

Korda, currently ranked 62 and with a 13-8 career record, will face Aljaz Bedene in the first round, with the winner taking on Karatsev.

Ruusuvuori will face Pablo Cuevas in his opening round match, and Popyrin will face a qualifier in his opening match.

If the seeds hold, the quarterfinals would shape up as follow:

Djokovic v Kecmanovic
Karatsev v Fucsovic
Millman v Lajovic
Krajovic v Berrettini

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