Barce… er… Nadal Open

1. Nadal

2. Verdasco (pictured)

3. Davydenko

4. Ferrer

5. Gonzalez

6. Robredo

7. Nalbandian

8. Wawrinka

9. Stepanek

10. Almagro

12. Andreev

15. Berdych

16. Lopez

My pick: Nadal, of course

Underdog pick: Robredo… (no I’m not going out on much of a limb there)

Into the round of 16, the seeds are holding strong and things are going to get pretty interesting. This is a VERY stron 500 event with just a few of the top guys taking a break (Fed, Novak, Murray). With those 3 gone, everyone else sees a great chance for a title……. ok I got ahead of myself, but at least a great shot at making it to the finals before getting out grinded by Rafa.

Good win for Rochus over Gasquet 6-1 6-7(2) 6-3. Rochus who has been around for quite a while has had by far his best results recently. I never would have given him much chance, but now he’s someone to be respected as a threat to seeds, however not quite yet a threat to win a tournament.

JC. Ferrero: Incredibly disappointing that he won the ATP 250 Casablanca and then goes down to Kunitsyn in straights here.

Players to watch:

Nadal.

Robredo: He’s won a plethora of clay court tournaments beating many of the top guys. He’s struggled the last couple weeks on hard, but he can and most likely will beat everyone other than Rafa today.

Verdasco: Obvious pick I suppose, but we’ve all seen moments of greatness recently from this guy. If the man playing Rafa in the finals isnt Verdasco or Robredo I’ll be a suprised.

Wawrinka: Pretty weak quarter here with a lot of good players who aren’t clay courters. I have no faith in Davydenko to beat anyone, so it’ll either be Stan the man or Radek who come up agains the the buzz saw in the semi’s.

For the main draw singles, click here