Two-Time Defending Champ Alcaraz Favored in Barcelona Open
2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Odds Favor Spaniards Alcaraz and Nadal
Can the 11-time Champion Rafael Nadal Make A Run at the Barcelona Open?
All eyes will be on the health of 11-time champion Rafael Nadal when it comes to the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell odds even though three top-10 players are in the field.
Carlos Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, will be the top seed when the clay-court event gets going this weekend.
This is another of the warmup tournaments leading into the French Open. Alcaraz is first at +140, Nadal is fourth at +400, and Stefanos Tsitsipas is tied for seventh in the French Open men’s singles outrights.
Keep on reading for more on the ATP tour stop in Barcelona, with three players in the top 10 in the current ATP rankings entered into the 48-player singles draw.
Next up on the ATP schedule is the two-week Masters event in Madrid, followed by the Italian Open.
The Barcelona Open Bank Sabadell main draw will begin on Monday, with the singles final set for April 21.
Alcaraz Goes After the 3-Peat
It hasn’t always been easy for Alcaraz on his way to the last two titles in Barcelona, as he had to win three three-set matches in 2022 and was pushed to a first-set tiebreaker by Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina in the quarterfinals in 2023.
Seven of Alcaraz’s 13 ATP singles titles have come on clay including two each in Madrid and Barcelona. Playing at home will make Alcaraz a favorite in the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell odds.
Alcaraz just withdrew from the Monte Carlo tournament. In his most recent tournament, Alcaraz lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals in Miami after beating top-10 players Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev to win at Indian Wells for his first tournament title in 2024.
Alcaraz has even odds to win one Grand Slam singles title in 2024. The odds are at +225 for the player who recently fell to No. 3 in the ATP rankings to come up short in the three remaining Grand Slams and +275 for Alcaraz to capture two of the final three slams in 2024.
While he is dealing with some injuries right now, all signs point to Alcaraz being on the court in his quest to win an ATP tournament three times in a row for the first time.
Will Rafa Go For Title No. 12?
It would be hard to find a player who has been more dominant in a tournament than Rafael Nadal has been at Barcelona.
He won the title every year from 2005 to 2009. After withdrawing from the 2010 event due to fatigue, Nadal won the next three Barcelona tournaments before falling in the quarterfinals in 2014 and in the third round in 2015. He then won four of the next five tournaments before missing the last two events.
Nadal, who hasn’t played in a Grand Slam tournament since losing in the second round at the 2023 Australian Open, is hoping to be healthy enough to play in the French Open for the first time since he won the event in 2022. It was his 14th French Open title.
Nadal lost in the quarterfinals in Brisbane in January in his only tournament so far this year. Keep that in mind when looking at the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell odds.
A Look At the Other Contenders
Five of the eight quarterfinalists in Monte Carlo are on the entry list in Barcelona, led by No. 8 seed Casper Ruud. Stefanos Tsitsipas, a three-time finalist in Barcelona, Alex de Minaur, Karen Khachanov, and Ugo Humbert are all players worth watching in Barcelona.
Tsitsipas and de Minaur not only reached the 2023 Barcelona quarterfinals, they squared off in that round, with Tsitsipas winning in straight sets.
Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist at Barcelona in 2023, and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are other players who have played well at the Barcelona Open.
The tournament is loaded with players who have previously won ATP clay-court tournament titles so that is something to consider when it comes to betting on the Barcelona Open.
A Look Back
Only four of the top eight seeds made it through to the quarterfinals in the 2023 Barcelona Open.
When looking at the ATP scores, third-seeded Ruud fell to Francisco Cerundolo in the third round, No. 5 seed Frances Tiafoe stumbled in his first match to Emil Ruusuvoiri. No. 6 seed Khachanov and No. 7 seed Cam Norrie each were eliminated in the third round.
No. 4 seed Jannik Sinner couldn’t take the court in the quarterfinals as one of the top contenders was eliminated.
No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed three sets to outlast Lorenzo Musetti in the semifinals, while Alcaraz lost four games to Daniel Evans in the semifinals and seven to Tsitsipas in the title match to join Nadal, Thomas Muster, Andres Gomez, Mats Wilander, Ilie Nastase, Roy Emerson, and Herbert Flam as the only players to win back-to-back titles at the Barcelona Open.
It was just the second time in the last six tournaments that the top two seeds met in the Barcelona Open final.
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