ATP BARCELONA OPEN
Final
Pablo Andujar (5.3) vs. Kei Nishikori (1.2)
Calling Kei Nishikori the best kept secret in men’s tennis would probably be inaccurate, as most tennis fans are now familiar with the 25-year old Japanese star. However, when it comes to the way the sporting public as a whole views men’s tennis, it’s still the “Big Four” and everyone else. Nishikori has climbed to the top of the “everyone else” pile, ranking 5th in the world, and based on the way he’s been playing lately it wouldn’t surprise me if we’re talking about the “Big Five” by year’s end.
Though he’s known as a hard court specialist, Nishikori has been dominating on the clay in Barcelona this week, dropping only one set over the course of four matches. He easily dispatched Martin Klizan 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinal yesterday, a particularly impressive performance when you consider that Klizan had beaten Nishikori in their only previous meeting. Now 20-year old Spaniard Pablo Andujar is all that stands between Nishikori and his second consecutive Barcelona Open title, and this is certainly the deep end of the pool for the 66th-ranked Andujar. I’ll say this for Andujar, though– he looked like a seasoned veteran in upsetting 3rd-seeded David Ferrer yesterday, showing off his whole bag of tricks in a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory that ended with a sweet little drop shot that fell just out of Ferrer’s reach.
Andujar does have some positive memories to draw on here, as he beat Nishikori in their only previous clay court meeting– at the Madrid Masters back in 2013. Nishikori has improved significantly in the last two years, though, and he’s beaten Andujar twice, most recently at last year’s U.S. Open. The clay is Andujar’s best surface and he’s sure to have the crowd behind him on Sunday, but I don’t think it’s going to be enough to overcome the machine-like Nishikori, a man who said yesterday that his playing style was “becoming more Spanish.” Is it “Spanish” enough to beat a Spaniard on the clay in Barcelona? I think it will be, and I think the outcome will be decisive. Recommendation: Nishikori at 1.2, Nishikori 2-0 (sets) at 1.58
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