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Match details
Fixture: Feliciano Lopez vs Roberto Carballes Baena
Date: 1 September 2020
Tournament: US Open 2020
Round: First round (Round of 128)
Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York, USA
Category: Grand Slam
Surface: Outdoor hardcourt
Prize money: $39,024,000
Match timing: 3 PM EDT, 12:30 AM IST
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel / ESPN | India - Star Sports / Hotstar
Feliciano Lopez vs Roberto Carballes Baena preview
Feliciano Lopez launches his 19th consecutive campaign at the US Open and a record 73rd at a Grand Slam tournament with a first-round match against compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena.
The Spanish veteran opened his season with a run to the quarterfinals in Auckland where his loss to Hubert Hurkacz was followed by another against compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut in the Australian Open first round. In the process, Feliciano Lopez became only the fifth player to play a competitive match in four consecutive decades.
After a win in his Montpellier opener against fellow left-hander Ugo Humbert, Feliciano Lopez lost his next three matches in all competitions, the last of them coming in the first round at the Monterrey Challenger.
Like most players, Lopez hasn't played competitively in over six months as he prepares to make his 19th consecutive appearance at the US Open. Despite his indifferent form this year, the Spanish veteran will have happy memories at the US Open where he made the third round last year.
If he goes one better this year, Feliciano Lopez will enter an exclusive club of a handful of active players with 100 Grand Slam match wins.
Roberto Carballes Baena, meanwhile, opened his season with a first-round exit at the Australian Open before he picked up his lone pair of wins during the Latin American Golden Swing.
The 27-year-old Spaniard, who won the 2018 Quito title, will be making only his third main-draw appearance at the US Open with one of his two Grand Slam match wins coming at this tournament in 2018.
Feliciano Lopez vs Roberto Carballes Baena head-to-head
Feliciano Lopez has never met his compatriot Roberto Carballes Baena on the tour before so their head-to-head record stands at 0-0.
Feliciano Lopez vs Roberto Carballes Baena prediction
The 38-year-old Feliciano Lopez is the oldest male singles player after Ivo Karlovic at the 2020 US Open.
In 18 previous appearances at the tournament stretching back to 2002, the left-hander has only lost four times in the opening round with his most recent such loss happening in 2018 against another compatriot Fernando Verdasco.
Feliciano Lopez has picked up 28 of his 96 Grand Slam match wins at the US Open, with his best showing at the tournament being a run to the quarterfinal in 2015 where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. In contrast, Lopez's first-round opponent, Carballes Baena, won his lone match at the US Open in 2018, doing so against American Mitchell Krueger.
With the gulf in pedigree and experience apparent between the two men, the Madrid Open tournament director will hope that his 450th defeat on the tour, the most for any player, doesn't happen against his younger compatriot.
Prediction: Feliciano Lopez to win in four sets.
