Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal are the top seeds in Barcelona Open

Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal

The European Clay court Swing now moves from one side of the Mediterranean in Monte Carlo to the other in Catalan for the Banc Sabadell Barcelona Open . One of the oldest Clay court ATP tournaments is played on the oldest tennis club in Spain, Real Club de Tenis Barcelona.  A prize money of € 1,993,230 is up for grabs as some top players decsend to the coastal city of Barcelona for the tournament. 

This edition of the ATP 500 masters tournament features top seeds like the 8-time champion Rafael Nadal, Defending Champion Kei Nishikori, four-time finalist David Ferrer and US open champion Marin Cilic. Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also makes a comeback to the tour in Barcelona and is seeded 6. 

Nadal does not have a easy route to the final

In the lower half, Rafael Nadal, seeded 2, has a very tricky draw as he may face Nicolas Almagro in the first match, who beat him last year at the same venue. Nadal will then face the winner of Fabio Fogini and Fernando Verdasco, both of whom have beaten the former on clay. Fognini upset Nadal earlier in the season in the Rio Open semifinals, while Verdasco took out Nadal in Madrid three years ago.

Nadal is expected to face fellow left handed compatriot Feliciano Lopez in a possible quarter final. 

David Ferrer has a relatively easy draw as he has potential matches with Nick Kyrgios, with a possible quarter final with Phillip Kohlschreiber or Benoit Paire or Ernest Gulbis. Gulbis, seeded 8, has been on a disastrous run in the season as he has lost 8 opening round matches this season. 

The upper half features the comeback kid, Tsonga, who has a possible match up with the 9th seed Tommy Robredo, and a possible quarter final clash with the 4th seed Cilic who also has dangerous Slovakian Martin Klizan in his draw. The top quarter features the defending champion, Kei Nishikori and last year finalist Santiago Giraldo. Nishikori has a possible quarter final tie with Robert Bautista Agut.

To defend his title, the Japanese will have to face dangerous players like Cilic, Klizan, Robredo en route to his final where is expected to face the king of clay Nadal for the summit clash.