Barcelona Open draw: Carlos Alcaraz gets cushy path with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Jannik Sinner in bottom half

Shahida Jacobs
Barcelona Open
2J5MND2 Barcelona, Spain. 24th Apr, 2022. Carlos Alcaraz celebrate the tittle after the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Conde de Godo Trophy final played at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona on April 24, 2022 in Barcelona, Spain. Credit: DAX Images/Alamy Live News

Carlos Alcaraz has been handed a kind draw at the Barcelona Open ahead of his return from injury as the defending champion has avoided second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and the in-form Jannik Sinner in the top half of the draw.

The Spaniard missed this week’s Monte Carlo Masters due to post-traumatic arthritis in his left hand and muscular discomfort in his spine, but he has been given the medical all-clear to compete at next week’s ATP 500 event at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in north-eastern Spain.

Alcaraz is the top seed for the event and he, along the rest of the seeds, have byes into the second round. The world No 2 will kick off his campaign against either Ilya Ivashka or Nuno Borges in the second round.

If the teenager gets through that clash then he is projected to face 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round while Frances Tiafoe is likely to a quarter-final opponent.

The fifth-seeded Tiafoe, though, will have a difficult opener as he takes on either Emil Ruusuvuori or Alexander Bublik while he could meet 10th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round.

Third seed Casper Ruud is the other dangerman in the top half and the Norwegian opens his campaign against the winner of the all-American clash between Mackenzie McDonald and Ben Shelton.

Sixth seed Karen Khachanov is Ruud’s projected quarter-final opponent, but the Russian will likely have to get past 12th seed Dan Evans in the third round. British No 1 Evans will face either Juane Munar or a qualifier in the second round.

The bottom half is spearheaded by Tsitsipas and the Greek faces Pedro Cachin or Gijs Brouwer first up with 14th seed Denis Shapovalov a projected third-round opponent and eighth seed Alex de Minaur expected to be a quarter-final rival.

Sinner will likely await the winner of that clash with the Italian headlining Section 3 along with Cameron Norrie and Lorenzo Musetti.

Fourth seed Sinner, who is playing in the semi-final of the Monte Carlo Masters on Saturday, faces Diego Schwartzman or Wu Yibing in the second round while he is expected to meet Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round and Norrie in the fourth round.

Seventh seed Norrie faces a qualifier first up while he could meet Musetti, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the Monte Carlo Masters this week, in the third round.

World No 5 Daniil Medvedev was also initially due to play in Barcelona, but the 2021 US Open champion withdrew on the back of his run to the quarter-final of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Related Articles