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  • Barcelona Preview: Second Round, First Half

    4/30/08 5:49 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - For the most part the Barcelona first round failed to live up to expectations, mainly because of too many retirements. But the top eight seeds take the court in round two after receiving byes and that should make things heat up.

    (1) Rafael Nadal vs. Potito Starace

    There simply is not much to say about this one. Nadal is nearly invincible on clay and probably the only way he fails to win a tournament between now and the French Open is if he decides his schedule is too grueling and he withdraws. Starace is a formidable opponent on the red stuff, but he is not on top of his game at the moment and would not be much of a threat to Nadal even if he was playing great tennis. Count on straight-set domination for Barcelona’s defending champion.

    Ernests Gulbis vs. (5) Carlos Moya

    Not only is Moya well ahead of Gulbis in the rankings (and therefore the seeding, too), but clay is his favorite surface whereas it’s Gulbis’ least favorite. Despite all that, this match should not be discarded as a foregone conclusion. The 19-year-old Latvian is outrageously talented and when he plays well, he is tough to beat by anyone on any surface. Gulbis led Tipsarevic 6-4, 4-2 in the first round when the Serb retired, so he has to be feeling at least somewhat good about his clay-court performance. Moya has not had any great results since a final appearance in Brazil more than two months ago, and he suffered a bad loss to Sam Querrey in his first match in Monte-Carlo. This is a rematch of a fourth-round clash at the 2007 U.S. Open, where Moya took out Gulbis in four sets. Look for Moya to prevail on Tuesday in another close contest.

    (10) Nicolas Almagro vs. Filippo Volandri

    Volandri is a complete non-factor on any surface other than clay, but the Italian can still get things done on the red stuff. Unfortunately he is going up against one of the best dirtballers in the business in Almagro. The Spaniard has already won two titles on clay this season and he also reached the final in Valencia two weeks ago. Volandri enjoyed two strong results on clay earlier in the season, but he got destroyed by Andy Murray in the second round of Monte-Carlo last week. Almagro will win this match, and it should be a rout.

    In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded James Blake takes on Denis Gremelmayr and No. 16 seed meets fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin.

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