Accompanied by the tournament director, David Ferrer and the ATP supervisor Carlos Sanches, Carlos Alcaraz drew very attractive pairings for the best tennis fans such as Guido Pella against two-time champion Kei Nishikori or Gilles Simon against Pablo Andújar, finalist of the tournament in 2015. Roberto Bautista, fifth seed of the tournament, will make his debut at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona against the winner of the match between the French tennis player and the Spaniard.
In addition to Rafa Nadal, others from the Top 20 who compete in the current Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell will have to bring out their best tennis to stop rivals who could put them in danger. Shapovalov will make his debut against the winner of the match between Chardy and Basilashvili while the winner of Gasquet-Thompson will be the first rival of Pablo Carreño, recent winner in Marbella. Feliciano López, the most veteran tennis player making his 20th appearance of the tournament and player of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, will meet the young Italian Lorenzo Musetti. 20 years of age separate them.
Once the draw was drawn and the predictions are fulfilled, the spectators could enjoy a quarter-final that would be played by Nadal against Goffin, Carreño against Schwartzman, Bautista against Rublev and Shapovalov against Tsitsipas, eight authentic clay-court gladiators who demonstrate the value of participants in this year’s edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
With the Monte Carlo Master 1000 in its final stretch, most of the players who will be part of the main draw of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell have already landed in the Catalan capital and have wanted to make contact with the clay in which they will battle in the coming days. Roberto Bautista, Feliciano López, Denis Shapovalov or Felix Auger-Aliassime are some of the best tennis players on the planet who have already crossed the doors of the RCTB-1899 wanting to start the tournament and go as far as possible in a field that will have up to eleven top 20 players.
For some of those players, it is also a homecoming. Carlos Alcaraz, Albert Ramos or Karen Khachanov, in addition to the aforementioned Feliciano and Bautista, belong to this club. As children, they asked for autographs and now they jump to the center court cheered by a crowd that loves and spoils them. They know every corner of the RCTB-1899, it is easy to see them chatting with many club employees and they enjoy the atmosphere of tennis that is breathed in every corner of the tournament.