 Alex Domino versus Rafa Nadal. It's a blockbuster second round match in Barcelona for 2024. The last time these guys played it was an epic. Rafa entered the tournament as the number 644 with a win-loss record of two wins and one loss, having only played the one tournament at the start of the year in Australia. His best result was making the quarterfinals of Brisbane in his comeback event, which was his first event of the season also for the best part of 12 months, eventually losing in that quarterfinal to Jordan Thompson after having matched points, but an epic match nonetheless. His best win during that tournament was against Dominic Teem who was coming in as a qualifier, his worst loss was also that tournament against Thompson, but that wasn't a bad loss. He did have match points in that, but it wasn't a bad loss in hindsight because of course Rafa was still coming back. His form doesn't really matter that much in the grand scheme of things. It was a great comeback to make the quarterfinals of his first event back, but before that it was a lot of losses ending the 2022 season, of course 2023 season, starting that with injuries. So the form is kind of irrelevant when it comes to Rafa. Dimino entered the tournament as the number 11 in the world with a record of 22 wins and seven losses for the season. His best result was in Acapulco going back to back there by beating Roode in the final in a close straight set, and that was after making the final in Rotterdam a couple weeks earlier. His best win was against Novak Djokovic in the United Cup, getting through him in straight sets, and his worst loss was against Mickelson in lost Carbos who was 74 in the world at the time. His form over the last few weeks has been really good, making the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo last week losing to Djokovic in a close straight set, also making it to the fourth round of both Indian Wells and Miami, so he's been in some really good form since winning that Acapulco title during the 1000s that have happened over the last few months. These guys have made four times a four with Rafa holding a three-one head-to-head record against Dimino, but Dimino did win their last match which was of course before the whole injury of Rafa at the Australian Open that was last year in the United Cup with a 7-5 finish in that third set. They've never played on clay though and of course that is Rafa's domain. Rafa's gonna win this one, he needs to beef up that server a little more. It was a little vulnerable against Kabali, luckily Kabali hit a lot of errors and maybe some nerves there for Kabali who was playing the greatest clay quarter that ever lived, so Dimino is not gonna give that many errors to Rafa like Kabali did, so he needs a beef up the serve and also be aggressive as well to shorten the points. If Dimino is gonna win this one, he needs to just be a brick wall, just do what he does and that is just get everything back. Rafa did hit a lot of errors himself in that match against Kabali, so he's just really got to make Rafa play more and more tennis and also keep him out there as long as possible because the fitness levels have got to be hurting for Rafa a little bit as well. What a fun matchup, what a great match for Rafa's second match on clay, a really good test as well, a physical test against Dimino, but I've got to go with Dimino in this one in a close three sets. I just think Dimino this year has been so so good and he's already beaten Djokovic this year, he also pushed Djokovic's last week in Monte Carlo, so I'm gonna go with Dimino in a very close three set, but let me know down in the comments below who's winning this match.