Novak Djokovic knows what almost everyone wants to see this week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Sure, the fans will be pleased to watch the sixth-seeded Serbian face Martin Klizan of Slovakia in the second round on Wednesday. The contest will be only Djokovic’s second match ever in Barcelona, after his one-and-done debut in 2006 when he was 18.

But what will really make fans smile wide? A 51^st FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup between Djokovic and 10-time Barcelona champion Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 26-24, and a quarter-final meeting in Spain would be their earliest matchup at a tournament since the 2016 Rome quarter-finals, when Djokovic advanced in straight sets. Nadal, however, won their most recent meeting during the 2017 Mutua Madrid Open semi-finals 6-2, 6-4.

Watch: Djokovic Shares Why He Decided To Play Barcelona

To make the fans’ dream matchup come true, Djokovic needs to beat Klizan and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, and Nadal needs to overcome Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters finalist Kei Nishikori.

“First of all the tournament is very lucky here because it has a lot of great players. Barcelona, in general, this tournament has always had top players,” Djokovic said.

“Obviously I have to be a little bit more modest with my expectations for the tournament. I have to focus only on winning the next match, even though potentially I understand that everybody would like to see Nadal-Djokovic in the quarter-finals.”

For Djokovic, just playing without pain is almost a victory at this stage. The 30-year-old Serbian said that last week’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters was the first event he’s played in almost a year in which he hasn’t competed with pain or thought about his right elbow during matches.

Read More: Nishikori: I Always Have A Chance Against Rafa

Last year, Djokovic ended his season after Wimbledon because of persistent pain in his right elbow. He had been bothered by it for more than two years. Earlier this year, in January, after playing at the Australian Open, Djokovic also underwent surgery on the elbow.

“The last 15 months have been quite tough, to understand the situation, how to deal with it. And I also did make some mistakes, where I came back too early because I wanted to play so much, and then I was not ready and then I made more problems with the elbow. It’s all a learning process, it’s all a school of life. I’m just trying to be conscious of all of this,” said Djokovic, who’s played only nine matches since July 2017.

“I haven’t played too many matches and I’m really looking forward to playing without thinking about my elbow or other things right now.”

The former No. 1 in the ATP Rankings has mastered all three surfaces but he might best be known for his hard-court success. Twenty-two of Djokovic’s 30 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles have come on hard. Djokovic, however, said he also feels very comfortable on clay, having grown up playing on the surface in Belgrade.

“I think my game has improved on this surface. Winning [Roland Garros] 2016 was obviously the highlight of my clay-court career, but I won also Rome, Madrid, big tournaments, and Monte-Carlo, and plenty of other good results. But obviously there’s a guy named Rafael Nadal who is always on the way to winning more ‘Big Titles’ and he still keeps on dominating this surface, and he’s definitely always the guy to beat,” Djokovic said.

“But as I said, I’m really pleased that I’m able to be healthy, to train, to put a lot of hours on the court and slowly build my game. Because I know that I’m not still at my best and for that I need time. How long? I don’t know but I feel like in Monte-Carlo already, I was putting some good matches together.”

His third-round run in the Principality included a dominating victory against countryman Dusan Lajovic and a straight-sets win against Borna Coric, who had reached the semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the quarter-finals at the Miami Open presented by Itau. Djokovic also pushed Dominic Thiem, the only man to beat Nadal on clay last year, to three sets before falling 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3.

“The long-term goal is obviously trying to win the biggest tournaments in this sport and fight for the peak of what our sport is and that is to be No. 1. I’ve been in that position so many times and for a long time in my career, especially throughout the last five, six years,” Djokovic said. “I believe I can get there [again].”

Rafael Nadal and his 10-match win streak at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, understandably, will garner most of the attention this week at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament.

But, away from the spotlight, two-time champion Kei Nishikori of Japan will look to start a winning streak of his own during his return to the clay-court event.

Nishikori missed Barcelona last year because of a right wrist injury. But, a year prior, he had won 14 consecutive matches in the Spanish city, including back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. His run ended in the 2016 final against Nadal.

Watch: Nishikori Looks Forward To Barcelona Return

The two played again on Sunday during the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final, which Nadal won in straight sets, his 10^th victory from 12 FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups.

Nishikori’s two wins against Nadal came on hard (2015 Montreal, 2016 Rio Olympics), but the Japanese right-hander has pushed Nadal on clay. During the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open final, Nishikori was leading by a set and a break before having to retire down 6-2, 4-6, 0-3.

“It was really tough to play Rafa last week, because he was playing great tennis, very heavy. He’s on fire right now. But I try to win one match at a time and try to enjoy the big challenge against Rafa,” Nishikori said on Tuesday in Barcelona.

“I always enjoy playing Rafa, especially on clay, he is the best in history. I have to enjoy playing Rafa. I beat him before, only twice, but I beat him before so I think there is always a small chance.”

The two could meet in the third round in Barcelona, if No. 1 Nadal beats countryman and Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena, and Nishikori takes care of Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Thirteen Spaniards reached the main draw.

For Nishikori, though, his focus remains on improving little by little after right wrist surgery forced him to miss the final four months of the 2017 season. The 28-year-old returned to tour-level action in February at the New York Open and posted his best result of the year in Monte-Carlo.

“My first goal is to come back to the Top 10. Last week gave me a lot of confidence,” Nishikori said. “It was a great week… Since injury, it was the best week so far, so I am very happy and proud. This tournament, it’s always my favourite and I hope I can do well but, it’s always been a really tough tournament. [I will] try to play one match at a time and hope I can do well this week.”

David Goffin recovered from a set and a double break down, saving one match point at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to beat Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 on Tuesday.

The Belgian had looked down and out at 4-6, 1-5 against the Barcelona-born star, but fought back, saving a match point with aggressive baseline play before coming to the net and extracting an error from his opponent. Goffin improves to 10-5 this season and now owns a 2-1 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with the Spaniard. Granollers had won their only previous encounter on the red dirt in Monte-Carlo two years ago.

Goffin advances to the third round for the second consecutive year, where he will meet either Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer or 16th seed Karen Khachanov.

Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena set up a second-round meeting with 10-time champion Rafael Nadal, beating Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-4. The 25-year-old needed one hour and 35 minutes to advance, breaking the Austrian five times en route to victory.

Martin Klizan set up a second-round encounter with sixth seed Novak Djokovic after a three-set win over Federico Delbonis. The 2015 semi-finalist (l. to Nishikori) beat the Argentine 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 in just under three hours to level their FedEx ATP Head2Head series at 2-2.

Guido Pella also progressed to the second round, hitting nine aces and winning 80 per cent of his first-service points to move past Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-4.

In doubles, top seeds Lukas Kubot and Marcelo Melo took just 51 minutes to book their place in the quarter-finals. The Polish-Brazilian duo beat Khachanov and Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 6-0. Kubot and Melo dropped just six points behind their serves and didn’t face a single break point throughout the match.

Did You Know?
Roberto Carballes Baena won six matches in seven days to win the Ecuador Open in February. The Spaniard beat a trio of seeded players en route to the title, rallying from a set down in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals before defeating countryman Albert Ramos-Vinolas in three sets in the championship match.

Yannick Maden notched his second ATP World Tour win on Tuesday, defeating local favourite Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. The lucky loser needed two hours and 22 minutes to upset the Hungarian No.1, saving eight of the 11 break points he faced to clinch the victory.

Maden, whose only previous win at tour-level came at the 2017 Moselle Open (d. Kicker), broke the sixth seed on five occasions to set up a meeting with countryman Maximilian Marterer.

Marterer also came back from a set down to beat Serbia’s Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The German was solid behind both his first and second serve, winning 67 and 68 per cent of points respectively, to beat the three-time ATP World Tour titlist.

German Jan-Lennard Struff recovered from a slow start to beat Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. The seventh seed, who pushed Alexander Zverev to three sets at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, hit 10 aces throughout the one-hour, 44-minute encounter to set up a clash with Alexander Bublik for a place in the quarter-finals. Bublik overcame the disappointment of failing to convert set points in the opening set to edge past Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 7-5.

Nikoloz Basilashvili also clinched an opening-round win, defeating Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-4, 6-2 in 81 minutes. The Georgian hit five aces and conceded just five points on his second serve (16/21) to set a meeting with Canadian fourth seed Denis Shapovalov.

Andreas Seppi defeated countryman Thomas Fabbiano 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the last 16. The 34-year-old, who reached the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters third round (l. to Nishikori), dropped just five points on serve in the first set before coming back in two hours and 25 minutes to advance.

The No. 8 seed will meet either Zsombor Piros or Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter-finals. Youzhny was set to serve for the match at 6-3, 5-3 before play was suspended due to darkness.

Did You Know?
At the 2018 Australian Open, Marton Fucsovics became the first Hungarian to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam since Balazs Taroczy at 1984 Roland Garros.

Lopez is now 36 years old and shows no signs of slowing down. On Tuesday, the left-handed Lopez will face Dusan Lajovic, a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 winner over Pedro Martinez in the first round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. 

When he was just 16 years old, Lopez was granted a wild card by the Real Tennis Club Barcelona, the facility that runs the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, after they saw serious potential in the young Spaniard. Lopez made the most of the opportunity: He battled his way into the main draw of the tournament with straight-set wins over Germany’s Jan Weinzierl 6-3, 6-3, and countryman Marcos Aurelio Gorriz Bonhora, 6-2, 6-4. 

Just like that, Lopez made good on expectations, and the youngster from the city of Toledo was reveling in his own success. 

“It was amazing,” Lopez told ATPWorldTour.com. “I remember spending all of those years trying to make it with the (Real Tennis Club Barcelona); breaking through was the last thing I expected.” 

The end to the tournament might have been anti-climactic, but still memorable: Lopez lost in the first round to Jiri Novak, 0-6, 2-6 in 46 minutes.The up-and-coming Spaniard still relished his first taste of success at the ATP World Tour level. Prior to his breakthrough in Barcelona, Lopez’s best performance had been at an ATP World Tour Challenger event in Majorca in September 1997, when he won his first match at that level and reached the second round (l. to Vemic).

“I didn’t enjoy that; Novak hadn’t ‘broken out’ at that point but he’d eventually be a top-10 player and a great player,” Lopez said. “On that day, I was nervous; I would have preferred to play with a lot less people watching.”

Quarter-final showings in 2011 (l. to Ivan Dodig) and 2012 (l. to David Ferrer) have been Lopez’s best results so far in Barcelona. Going into Tuesday’s second-round clash, Lopez holds a 3-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head series edge over Lajovic. The Serbian emerged victorious in their most recent encounter at Indian Wells in 2017, but the Spaniard was victorious in their only clay-court meeting. 

Win or lose, what matters most to Lopez isn’t who walks off the court the winner. It means more to Lopez that he can continue playing at the highest level for years to come. 

“My wish is continue playing as well as I have been playing for a long time,” Lopez said.