Rafael Nadal
Nadal has not dropped a set in the ongoing clay season.Alex Caparros/Getty Images

The clay-court swing of 2018 tennis season resumes after a week's break in Madrid as the ATP Masters 1000 tournament — Madrid Open kick stars Sunday, May 6.

How to watch Madrid Open 2018 tennis on TV, online in India

The live television coverage of the clay-court tournament will be available on Sony ESPN. Sony Liv will provide the live stream of the matches.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal and former champion Novak Djokovic are two of the biggest names present in the men's singles field as the likes of Roger Federer and Andy Murray have not played on the dirt in the ongoing season.

Meanwhile, Juan Martin del Potro, who had stitched a 15-match unbeaten run early in the season when he won the Indian Wells Masters, returns to action since losing the Miami Open semi-final to John Isner.

Madrid Open men's singles draw preview

Top seed Nadal headlines the top half of the draw as the Spaniard eyes a sixth title in the clay-court tournament. The 16-time Grand Slam champion has been handed a first-round bye and will open his campaign against the winner of the first round match between Frenchman Gael Monfils and a qualifier.

Nadal is likely to face 13th seed Diego Schwartzman in the third round while a quarter-final test against fifth seed Dominic Thiem awaits the Spaniard.

Notably, Thiem was the only player to have defeated Nadal in last year's clay season but the former lost to the world number one in Monte Carlo last month.

Nadal's biggest threat will be del Potro, who already has a win against Roger Federer (Indian Wells final) this season.

Djokovic vs Nishikori in Round 1

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic suffered a first-round defeat in Barcelona.Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Meanwhile, 10th seed Djokovic, who suffered a shock first-round defeat in Barcelona last month, faces a tough test as early as in the first round against Nishikori.

The world number 12 has been struggling ever since returning to competitive action following an elbow injury that hampered his Australian Open campaign.

However, a win against Nishikori, who had reached the final of Monte Carlo Masters, will give the Serb a lot of confidence.

Djokovic has a tough road to the final stages as he is likely to face eighth seed David Goffin in the third round and third seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-final.

Second seed Alexander Zverev, who hasn't managed to impress so far in the ongoing season, faces an early test as well as he may take on Barcelona Open finalist and wildcard Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.

Madrid Open global TV listings and live stream

US: Tennis Channel

UK: TV - Sky Sports; Live stream: Sky Go

France: France TV

Switzerland: SRG, Teleclub

Canada: TSN

Malaysia: Astro Supersport

Predicted quarter-final line-up (Seeding in parenthesis)

  • Rafael Nadal [1] vs Dominic Thiem [5]
  • Juan Martin del Potro [4] vs Kevin Anderson [6]
  • Novak Djokovic [10] vs Grigor Dimitrov [3]
  • Alexander Zverev [2] vs John Isner [7]

Madrid Open 2018 schedule - Key matches on Sunday, May 6

Richard Gasquet vs Tomas Berdych [14] - 2:30 pm local time, 6 pm IST

Denis Shapovalov vs Tennys Sandgren - Not before 12:30 pm local time, 4 pm IST