No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany dropped his first set before rallying to victory, while defending champion Andrey Rublev of Russia was shown the exit door at the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday in Spain.
Zverev gritted out a 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (0) victory over Spanish 28th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. In a match where Davidovich Fokina won a greater share of the total games and points while playing on home soil, Zverev’s performance in the two tiebreakers saw him through.
“The first set wasn’t my best tennis but it is sport and it can change quickly,” Zverev said. “I was down a set and a break and I had to fight. I am very happy with the win. Alejandro is playing unbelievable tennis, the best of his life, so I am happy to be through.”
In the two-hour, 45-minute match, Zverev fired 11 aces and got past six double faults while capitalizing on his opponent’s mistakes. While Davidovich Fokina had a 32-24 edge in total winners, he also committed a whopping 45 unforced errors.
Zverev went up a break in the third set but then lost his serve in the 10th game for a 5-5 tie. Down 6-5, 15-0 in the 12th game, Zverev proceeded to win the final 10 points of the match — forcing and then sweeping the tiebreaker.
Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik upset the seventh-seeded Rublev 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in a tidy hour and 23 minutes. Both players fired 12 aces, and Rublev lost despite saving more break points (4 of 6 to Bublik’s 2 of 5) and committing fewer unforced errors (13 to 19).
“It was a really, really good match,” Bublik said on the Tennis Channel. “A bit of quality tennis (by Rublev) in the second set, and I stayed focused to maintain the quality and it worked well.”
No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz went through to the Round of 16 after opponent Benjamin Bonzi of France retired due to injury. They had played two sets, with Bonzi winning the first 6-4 and Fritz taking the second 7-5.
Fritz’s fellow American Brandon Nakashima, the 31st seed, defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 6-3. Nakashima’s next test will be No. 9 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia, who swept past Argentine qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-2, 6-2.
Czech No. 22 seed Jakub Mensik took down American No. 12 Ben Shelton 6-1, 6-4, while No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo defeated Federico Comesana 6-4, 6-4 in a battle of Argentina natives.
In the final match of the day, No. 14 seed Casper Ruud of Norway cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over American 23rd seed Sebastian Korda in 71 minutes. In his next match, Ruud will take on Fritz.
–Field Level Media
