The ATP’s Barcelona tournament presents first round action and so do our tennis picks. On Monday, we saw some interesting opening results where three of the eight matches went the full three sets. Of note, Alexander Zverev – the young sensation – disposed of Jan-Lennard Struff rather easily. He won 6-4 and 6-3. We also saw Albert Montanes advance past Roberto Carballes, Inigo Cervantes beat Franko Skugor, Radek Stepanek beat Santiago Giraldo, Malek Jaziri top Hyeon Chung and Evgeny Donskoy beat Facundo Bagnis. Each of those was in straight sets. Teymuraz Gabashvili need three sets to beat Nicolas Almagro, as did Karen Khachanov over Aljaz Bedene and Victor Estrella over Mikhail Kukushkin.
Remember that this is not a Masters event, but it is not a rinky-dink 250 tournament. It’s a 500 event, which means a pretty reasonable purse and a decent opportunity to gain rankings points. Which players will take advantage? Here are our tennis picks for Tuesday:
Marcel Granollers vs. Daniel Munoz de la Nava
Betting Odds: Granollers -294
There should be little doubt about the better player in this matchup. Marcel Granollers is a tested veteran who wins a handful of major tournament matches in most years, and is good enough to win a match or two at Masters-level tournaments. Just last week in Monte Carlo, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to Gael Monfils. He’s not an elite player, but he’s one of those solid journeyman players who gets into the more important tournaments on a fairly regular basis. Most tennis professionals don’t reach that level.
Daniel Munoz de la Nava is a much less distinguished player. He has spent most of his career on the challenger circuit. He has crept his way into the top 100, but he’s won only seven ATP Tour-level matches in his time as a tennis player. He’s lost 17 matches, so he’s just not a player who makes opponents worry. Because Granollers lost in the quarterfinals on Friday, and not in the semifinals on Saturday or the final on Sunday, he should have had enough time to regroup for this match on Tuesday. Fatigue is the only thing which might give de la Nava a real chance. Granollers should be the choice for your tennis picks here.
Pick: Granollers in straight sets
Thiemo de Bakker vs Elias Ymer
Betting Odds: Ymer -137
This should be a close match, even though de Bakker is an older veteran and Ymer is a young gun at age 20. De Bakker is ranked 102 in the world, compared to Ymer, who is ranked at 123. If this match was the third of the tournament for each player, you might have wanted to trust Ymer’s energy, given that players would have been competing the day after another match. However, since this is the first match of the tournament for each player, Ymer could be extra nervous about the surface and therefore a little more uncertain of how to play on clay. De Bakker, on the other hand, is much more accustomed to playing on tour, and one thing experience helps with is the ability to go from one tournament location to another without overthinking it. De Bakker makes a little more sense as a pick here, though it’s close. Go with De Bakker with your tennis picks. You’re getting him as an underdog here too.
Pick: De Bakker in three sets
Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Jaume Munar
Betting Odds: Ramos-Vinolas -1000
This is a matchup in which it’s just about impossible to see any other result than one, and one alone. Ramos-Vinolas is a steady and capable pro who is in the top 40. Munar, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the ladder, with a ranking outside the top 400. The gulf between two players is too much to ignore. Maybe Ramos-Vinolas is rusty, but even a rusty Ramos should be able to take care of Munar without any real trouble. It’s a lot of juice but take Ramos-Vinolas with your tennis picks.
Pick: Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets
Want to give your comments about this article? You can either leave them here or you can join us on the Get More Sports Forum and talk about this article and many more! Brag about your favorite team, argue about an athlete’s performance or tell us about a game you saw. Join a new community of sports fans who live and breathe sports and sports entertainment. It’s free! Join
