Carlos Alcaraz has found out his path to a possible third title at the Barcelona Open, but the 2026 edition of the tournament won’t feature the two most recent winners.

As the world No 1 and current darling of Spanish tennis, Alcaraz is the top billing at the clay-court event and he will play on home soil for the first time since completing the Career Grand Slam with his Australian Open title in January.

The seven-time major champion, who is a two-time winner in Barcelona after winning back-to-back trophies in 2022 and 2023, will face a qualifier in the first round and if he reaches the second round he will take on either Tomas Machac or Sebastian Baez.

Alcaraz – who is still in action at the Monte Carlo Masters as he has reached the last four – is projected to meet fifth seed Andrey Rublev, who faces Mariano Navone in his opener, in the quarter-final and either Alex de Minaur or Jack Draper in the semi-final.

Third seed De Minaur will also take on a qualifier in the first round and if he wins that match, he will face another qualifier while eighth seed Draper – playing in his first tournament since losing early at the Miami Open – has to get past Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round.

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Current world No 5 Lorenzo Mussetti is the highest-ranked player in the bottom half of the draw and the Italian faces Spanish wildcard Martin Landaluce in the first round while he could meet sixth seed Valentin Vacherot in the quarter-final.

The in-form Vacherot, a semi-finalist at the Monte Carlo Masters, starts off against Terence Atmane before a possible tricky second-round encounter against either Brandon Nakashima or Arthur Fils.

Karen Khachanov is the fourth seed and he starts off against Camilo Ugo Carabelli while he could meet seventh seed Cameron Norrie in the quarter-final.

Norrie faces a possible banana skin in his opener as he takes on the retiring Stan Wawrinka.

Projected Quarter-Finals

Alcaraz v Rublev
De Minaur v Draper
Khachanov v Norrie
Mussetti v Vacherot

The tournament suffered two blows just before the main draw was made as Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was due to be seeded fifth, and Casper Ruud both withdrew from the clay-court event.

Both reported injuries following their recent participation at the Monte Carlo Masters and it means the two most recent Barcelona Open champions are not featuring as Ruud, who won the title in 2024, are joined on the sidelines by defending champion Holger Rune, who beat Alcaraz in the 2025 final.

Rune remains on the injury list after he tore his Achilles tendon last October.