Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal will look to continue his excellent start to the season, and extend his winning streak to 15 matches, when he comes up against Cameron Norrie in the final at the ATP Acapulco Open. But the Briton is in fine form in his own right and will believe that he has the quality to get past Nadal. Who will come out on top?
ATP Acapulco Final Prediction
Rafael Nadal vs Cameron Norrie
Head-to-head: Nadal 3-0 Norrie
Nadal’s returns on hard courts may have diminished slightly in the later years of his career, but the Spaniard remains a very formidable opponent when he is on song. He has demonstrated as much through the early weeks of this season, winning back-to-back titles in Melbourne and he has not missed a beat on his return to action at the ATP Acapulco Open. He started his week with a comprehensive victory over Denis Kudla and has not looked back.
He proved far too strong for Stefan Kozlov in the second round, beating the American for the loss of only three games though Kozlov was clearly not at his best. Nadal backed that up with a 6-0 7-6 win over Tommy Paul before getting the better of new world #1 Daniil Medvedev. That 6-3 6-3 win was surely one of Nadal’s best in recent memory. Medvedev had his chances, creating 11 break points, but Nadal simply refused to yield an inch.
Norrie has not been quite such electric form, but he is enjoying a very productive patch. He looks increasingly home in the upper echelons of the men’s game and will surely be full of confidence after winning the title in Delray Beach last week. He has maintained the high level he displayed in Florida to score wins over Daniel Altmaier, John Isner, Peter Gojowczyk and fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, dropping just one set (to Isner) in the process.
This has been a difficult matchup for Norrie however. He has played Nadal three times and been beaten fairly convincingly three times. Two of those matches did come on clay, which is probably Norrie’s worst surface and certainly Nadal’s best, but the Spaniard didn’t encounter many problems beating him in the third round at Melbourne Park last season. Norrie is good enough, and has improved significantly since they last met, that this may be more competitive. But expect Nadal to come out on top.
Prediction: Nadal in 2
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