H2H: Stan Wawrinka vs. Rafael Nadal - Prediction (ATP Paris

Wawrinka vs. Nadal – Preview and players comparison.

Rafael Nadal deservedly starts as the favorite, but playing on indoor hardcourt does give the Swiss a decent chance to cause an upset.

Rafael Nadal defeated Adrian Mannarino in two close sets to set up a mouthwatering round of 16 clash with Stan Wawrinka. The Spaniard was rock-solid on his serve as he did not expose a breakpoint chance and created seven such chances on the Frenchman’s serve, 7-5 6-4. Though Rafael Nadal has thoroughly dominated this matchup in the past (19-3), Stan Wawrinka won one of the biggest matches of his career against Rafael Nadal in the championship match of Australian Open in 2014 — his maiden slam title. The match against Adrian Mannarino was only Rafael Nadal’s first outing on indoor hardcourt (on the main tour) this year. The last time he won back-to-back matches on the surface was here in Paris Masters in 2017 when he defeated Hyeon Chung and Pablo Cuevas before pulling out of the quarterfinal.

World #2 Rafael Nadal will reclaim the top spot from Novak Djokovic next Monday, regardless of what happens in Paris this week. However, the Spaniard’s objective is to finish the season as the year-end #1, and he can achieve that by winning the Paris Masters title. It’s not going to be easy for Rafael Nadal considering he last won an indoor hardcourt title in Madrid Masters way back in 2005 and never won the Paris Masters title in seven appearances.

Former Swiss #1 Stan Wawrinka needed two tiebreakers to edge past the struggling Marin Cilic in the second round earlier this week, 7-6 7-6. It was a solid result for Wawrinka, considering he was forced to pull out of the quarterfinal clash in Basel last week. While Rafael Nadal has got a perfect 6-0 record in the round of 16 in Paris Masters, his opponent Stan Wawrinka lost four of his previous six matches at this stage in Paris — recently failed against Kevin Anderson in the round of 16 in 2014. Since coming back from the lengthy injury break in 2018, the Swiss has played only two championship matches on the main tour, and both of those runs came on indoor hardcourt — runner-up in Rotterdam and Antwerp earlier this month.