A second-round battle at the Mutua Madrid Open is an entirely different prospect for former World No. 3s Grigor Dimitrov and Milos Raonic on Tuesday. Pit the pair against each other on a blue hard court in Australia and the Bulgarian has good reason to back himself every time.
View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches from the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win!
Dimitrov vs Raonic | Carreno Busta vs Coric | Del Potro vs Dzumhur
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The 26-year-old fell in his first FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter with the Canadian in Stockholm in 2011, but is unbeaten Down Under in three straight meetings since. This, however, will be their first tour-level clash on clay and on what is neither player’s strongest surface, a win would come as a timely morale boost as both seek their first ATP World Tour title of 2018.
While third seed Dimitrov had a first-round bye, World No. 24 Raonic breezed past Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-2 in his opening match. Raonic, a two-time quarter-finalist (2015, 2016) in Madrid, has contested just one event on clay leading in, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he was forced to miss his scheduled Round of 16 clash with Marin Cilic due to a right knee injury.
He had impressed on hard courts leading in, with a semi-final loss to eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and again to the Argentine in the Miami Open quarter-finals. He will need to overturn a six-match losing streak against Top 10 opponents to reach the round of 16.
Dimitrov opened his clay-court season with a semi-final showing at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he defeated David Goffin before a straight-sets defeat to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. He fell to Pablo Carreno Busta in the Barcelona quarter-finals last week.
Coming off back-to-back hard-court titles in Acapulco and Indian Wells – his first at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level – and a semi-final finish in Miami, Del Potro will contest his first clay-court singles match of the season after he partnered Dominic Thiem to an opening-round doubles defeat (l. to Cuevas/Granollers) on Monday.
In his first singles match in nearly six weeks, Del Potro will carry a 1-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record into his second-round assignment against Damir Dzumhur. The Bosnian broke a four-match losing streak on Monday to beat France’s Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-2. Del Potro has not reached a semi-final on clay since the 2012 Mutua Madrid Open.
“The last weeks were great to me. I been at home for a while, spending good time with friends, family. Also training to be ready for these tournaments. We decided to come here maybe couple of weeks ago when I got good feelings on the clay court,” Del Potro said.
“I’m still thinking it’s a good opportunity for me to keep growing up in the ranking maybe and keep doing well. But I know how tough this tournament is for me.”
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Also bidding for a third-round berth, #NextGen ATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov will take on Frenchman Benoit Paire for the first time. Only seven spots separate the pair in the ATP Rankings with Shapovalov the higher of the two at No. 43.
The 19-year-old had lost his two prior ATP World Tour clay-court matches leading in before seeing off American Tennys Sandgren in straight sets on Monday. Paire arrived with a 1-3 record on clay for the year before his upset of countryman Lucas Pouille in the first round.
In first-round action, ninth seed Pablo Carreno Busta comes of a semi-final run at last week’s Barcleona Open Banc Sabadell to meet Croatian Borna Coric. The pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head series is tied at 1-1 with Coric’s last match a straight-sets defeat to Novak Djokovic in the second round of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
Fernando Verdasco, Fabio Fognini and Robin Haase will each chase milestone wins in their respective first-round matches at the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. Verdasco, appearing at his hometown event for the 16th straight year, goes for his 500th win against Paolo Lorenzi. Fognini (299 wins) faces Leonardo Mayer and Haase (199 wins) takes on South Korea’s Hyeon Chung.
