Nadal, Wawrinka Open Rome Campaigns Wednesday

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia & vote for who you think will win!
Nadal v Almagro | Nishikori v Ferrer | Raonic v Haas | Thiem v Cuevas

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View Wednesday schedule and check back later for preview notes

• The remaining 10 second round matches are on Wednesday’s schedule with five of the Top 8 seeds leading the way: No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, No. 4 and seven-time champion Rafael Nadal, No. 5 Milos Raonic, No. 7 Kei Nishikori and No. 8 Dominic Thiem. Three other seeds: No. 13 Jack Sock, No. 15 Pablo Carreno Busta and No. 16 Alexander Zverev are in action.

• In the opening match on Centrale, Nishikori brings a 9-4 head-to-head advantage over 2010 Rome finalist David Ferrer, who notched his 700th career win on Tuesday over countryman Feliciano Lopez. This is the second straight week they are meeting and fourth time overall on clay. Nishikori won 64 63 last Thursday in the 3R at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid. Nishikori is 3-0 on clay vs. Ferrer. The 35-year-old Spaniard is trying to break an 11-match losing streak vs. Top 10 opponents since his last win over No. 10 Marin Cilic in the 4R at 2015 Roland Garros. Nishikori reached the quarter-finals in 2015 and semi-finals last year, losing to Djokovic in three sets both times.

• In the next match on, qualifier Nicolas Almagro takes on the ATP World Tour’s hottest player, Nadal, who enters with a 15-match winning streak after capturing titles at ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and ATP Masters 1000 Madrid. Nadal is 14-1 (34-4 in sets) against his countryman and Almagro’s lone win came in the 2014 Barcelona quarter-finals. Nadal is eyeing his 50th win in Rome and he’s won 50-more matches in five other tournaments (see below). The 30-year-old Spaniard has only dropped two sets this spring (30-2) during his clay court streak. His seven Rome titles are a tournament record and he last held the crown in 2013.

• In the next session, Wawrinka meets Frenchman Benoit Paire for the second week in a row and second straight year in this round in Rome. Wawrinka leads 7-3 overall (2-1 on clay) and he won last year’s meeting here. Last week Paire won in three sets in the 2R at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid.

• In the opening match on newly-named Next Gen Arena, British No. 2 Kyle Edmund and former World No. 4 Juan Martin del Potro square off for the first time. In the next men’s match, Madrid finalist Thiem and Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay battle for the third time (tied 1-1). They met in the semi-finals of Madrid last Saturday and the Austrian won 64 64.

• On Pietrangeli, Serbian No. 2 Viktor Troicki and Zverev have split their two previous meetings on grass. In the next match, 39-year-old Tommy Haas looks for his first win (0-2) against Raonic.

NADAL’S MOST MATCH WINS BY TOURNAMENT