It’s again Verdasco vs Nadal. These two played an incredible five-set match at Australian Open and Verdasco was the winner there. They also play doubles together, so they know each other perfectly.
Nadal has an advantage in head to head matches against Verdasco – 15:3, but in the last four matches Fernando defeated Rafael three times. Anyway, Nadal is the favourite here. But Verdasco knows him well and he must offer a battle and maybe win one set.
Nadal is far from his best now. He defeated Gilles Muller but couldn’t stand his net approaches and left-hand shots. Verdasco can play in the same style as Muller and cause problems to Nadal. Fernando can mentally prepare to the upcoming game, but I can’t see him winning. I expect at least 22 games here with the score about 7:6, 6:4 to Nadal.