Ivashka, first stop for a Nadal looking for his 12th Godó

Rafael Nadal, who has been seen since Sunday and after his premature elimination in the Monte Carlo Tournament training in the Royal Tennis Club of Barcelona, you already know who will be your first rival on the way to conquer your twelfth Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. And it is for the manacorí a 27-year-old stranger. Never faced before Nadal to Ilya Ivashka, who got rid of the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor by 6-3 and 6-1, and who accumulates two victories in this tournament.

Ivashka, number 111 in the world, was undone on Saturday in the previous one by American Maxime Cressy by 6-3 and 6-1 and, later, did the same of the Italian Federico Gaio, by 6-3 and 6-2. Curiously, a last minute change in the table due to the resignation of some tennis players has caused this type of variation, since Gaio was respected and the Frenchman Benoit Paire won by 7-5 and 6-3. In fact, Nadal had to make his debut against the Frenchman Adriane Mannarino or a tennis player from the previous one, but the resignations caused changes.

Tennis players like Grigor Dimitrov, Lloyd Harris, Nick Kyrgios, Reilly Opelka, Casper Ruud or Jean Lennard Struff finally decided not to participate in Barcelona. The losses of Ruud and Dimitrov, who were seeded, upset the initial draw drawn on Saturday at the Real Club Tenis de Barcelona. If Nadal, as expected, manages to overcome that round, in the next round he could face the Japanese Kie Nishikori if he is able to defeat the Chilean Cristian Garin.

But before that, Nadal will have to beat Ivashka, who recently beat the Spaniards Pedro Martínez and Alejandro Davidovich in the Marbella Tournament, although he did not pass the quarterfinals against Jaume Munar. The Belarusian tennis player knows Barcelona well, since for several years he was part of the 4Slam Tennis academy of Galo Blanco or Fernando Vicente, and there he coincided, among others, with Andrey Rublev, Nadal's last executioner in Monte Carlo.