Barcelona 2023: David Goffin vs Feliciano Lopez Tennis Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2023 Barcelona Open first-round match featuring David Goffin vs Feliciano Lopez on Monday, April 17, 2023.

Goffin vs Lopez Match Preview and Prediction

Feliciano Lopez is playing the Barcelona Open for the last time. Will he play his last match there when he takes on David Goffin in the first round?

David Goffin returned to action for the first time since withdrawing from Marseille towards the end of February due to a knee injury at last week’s Monte Carlo Masters. But the Belgian looked well off the pace as he fell to a straight sets defeat to a struggling Diego Schwartzman. Goffin will need to operate close to full fitness this clay season starting with the Barcelona Open where he takes on wild card entrant Feliciano Lopez.

Feliciano Lopez’s farewell tour takes him to his home country at the 2023 Barcelona Open. He’s playing there for the last time and will hang up his racket before the end of 2023. Lopez has played on the pro tour for 25 years and won seven career titles. He’s still eyeing a wild card at Queen’s for the grass season where he intends to bring the curtain down. But before he gets there, he’ll want to put every drop of energy on the court when he faces David Goffin.

Goffin vs Lopez Prediction and Pick

David Goffin leads Feliciano Lopez 4-1 in their head-to-head, although the pair haven’t clashed since 2018 when Lopez stunned the Belgian at Queen’s. Lopez might not win another match again (beat Eubanks in Acapulco for his only win) for the remainder of this season for as long as he plays, and Goffin wouldn’t want to be the answer to the trivia question as the last player Lopez beat. Nonetheless, this surface demands a lot of stamina and endurance, and at 41, with very limited on-court appearances, it is hard to imagine Lopez signing off with another win in Barcelona.