Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez will face off in the second round of the 2020 Paris Masters, with the match expected to be played on Wednesday, November 4. The match is likely to start sometime after 1.30 pm local time (12.30 pm BST). Get the live streaming options of this Rafael Nadal v Feliciano Lopez match along with its preview, head to head, and tips here.
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Rafael Nadal v Feliciano Lopez Head to Head
This is an old rivalry – and friendship – which has seen 14 matches but none since 2015. Nadal leads 9-5 with Lopez having won their last two encounters at the 2014 Shanghai Masters and 2015 Cincinnati Masters. Rather interestingly, Nadal lost their only encounter on indoor hard court but that came way back in 2003 at Basel.
Also Read:
Nadal’s Never Won the Paris Masters
There are two Masters titles absent from the Nadal cabinet and this one in Paris is one of them. For a player to have won 35 Masters titles without winning them all is an anomaly he would like to correct and this presents Nadal with one of his best opportunities to do that.
There’s no Roger Federer, no Novak Djokovic, and no Dominic Thiem in his path, while neither Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev look like they are in form and the only player who looks dangerous enough to test him is Andrey Rublev.
Nadal, on his part will need to overcome some rustiness. Since the return of tennis following the pandemic break, the world number two has played just two tournaments – both on clay, including the title victory at the French Open where he dropped not a single set en route his 13th win.
The Spaniard doesn’t play a lot indoors either. This whole year he hasn’t played a single match on the surface, just like he didn’t in 2018 while in 2019 he played six matches of which he won five. He did take part in the Paris Masters last season where he made the semifinal but had to withdraw from that match against Denis Shapovalov because of fitness concerns.
That semifinal was his best showing at the Paris Masters since 2013 when he last made the last four in that tournament, having reached the final just once – in 2007. Can he kick-start his bid to do a double in Paris, win the French Open and Paris Masters in the same year, with a convincing showing?
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Lopez Saves Six Set-Points in Opener
The 39-year-old veteran Lopez had gone into his opening round match at the Paris Masters with odds of 14/5 to win the match against a much-favoured Serb Filipp Krajinovic. And the way the match began it looked like Krajinovic was going to live up to those favourite odds.
Lopez fell behind an early break to go 3-0 down, but then slowly clawed back into the contest with a break back in the fifth game. He then held serve twice to love before pushing the set into a tie-breaker.
Even in the tie-breaker, Lopez, who hasn’t had too many performances to remember other than a quarterfinal at the Kitzbuhel Open, was down 5-0 and the earlier fightback seemed to have gone in vain. Except it did not, as he staved off three set points to make it 6-6 and then a further three more before wrapping it up 13-11.
A win like that takes the wind off the opponent’s sail and that is exactly what seems to have happened to Krajinovic who collapsed in the second set to concede the match 6-7, 1-6.
Lopez hasn’t made it past the second round at the Paris Masters since 2014 and with odds of 15/2 for his win here, it seems unlikely he would here either.
Nadal v Lopez Prediction and Tip
This should be an easy one to predict – a Nadal win – but having not played in a while, the world number two could face some early rhythm issues on a non-clay court.
Tip: Nadal to win in straight sets: 2/7 (bet365)
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The Paris Masters 2020 will be played from November 2 to November 8. You can watch & bet on the Paris Masters here. Get your latest premium tennis predictions here.
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