Davidovich, Tsitsipas, Sinner, Musetti and de Miñaur advance to the quarterfinals
BARCELONA, 20 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz defeated Roberto Bautista Agut (6-3 and 7-5) in a national duel in the round of 16 of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell-70 Conde de Godó Trophy, and will face the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich in the quarterfinals , while other favorites such as the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or Jannik Sinner also passed the round.
Alcaraz, who defends the title on Barcelona clay, beat the Castellón player in 1:53:40 hours of an even, vibrant match, which left great points and in which the Murcian had to sweat to beat Bautista, currently number 25 in the world. But the world number 2 finished strong, with a break and the last serve in white.
Bautista began wasting two break balls in the first service of the match, in charge of Carlos Alcaraz. And to the Murcian, being at the level he is in Barcelona, few gifts can be made. Bautista seemed to make sure of it, who in the fifth game did break the Spanish number 1.
That touch of attention helped the Murcian to connect a series of impeccable games, with an effective serve, precise uploads to the net and left poisoned for the man from Castellón. Four games in a row, including two breaks, allowed the defending champion to close the first set 6-3, in almost an hour of play.
An equality that was repeated, and even increased, in the second sleeve. And that Alcaraz broke Bautista’s serve and had a ball to get 3-0 up that he did not take advantage of. In the fourth game, second service in the set for Alcaraz, he suffered to make it 3-1 but he achieved that advantage that brought him closer to closing the duel.
And there Bautista Agut raised his game to get fully into the fight. So much so that he came to put himself 4-5 up after breaking two services in a row to El Palmar, who managed to equalize the set at 5 games and turn the situation around with a blank ‘break’. With his serve, with everything to close the game, he did it again through the quick shot, blank and making the first of three match balls good.
For his part, Alejandro Davidovich –number 10 in the tournament– beat Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in two even sets (6-4 and 7-5), in almost an hour and a half of play. It was more difficult for the man from Malaga to close the second set, but he took advantage of the second match point that he had to seal his pass to the quarterfinals. Now, he will face Carlos Alcaraz, who will experience his second Spanish duel.
Following the trend of Wednesday, there were few surprises on this day, already full of the round of 16. The only tournament leader who lost to a less favorite player in Barcelona was the British Cameron Norrie, seventh seed of Godó who fell to the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, number 9 in the tournament, 3-6, 6-4 and 6- 1.
Despite warning of the difficulty of the game, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas beat the Canadian Denis Shapovalov (6-3 and 6-2) in 1:17 hours of the game, with a more solid game both on serve and on court, against a Shapovalov who committed 12 double faults on his serve.
Finalist in 2021 and 2018, last year Tsitsipas reached the quarterfinals and was eliminated by Carlos Alcaraz, who would end up winning the tournament. Now, with this level victory, Australian Alex de Minaur will be measured in the quarterfinals, who did not play against the injured and retired Grigor Dimitrov and will come fresh to the clash.
The Italian Jannik Sinner, number 4 in the tournament, also passes the round against the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (6-1, 4-6 and 6-3). In one of the few matches so far decided in three sleeves, the 21-year-old Italian (number 8 in the ATP ranking) was seen physically touched several times.
In fact, after the clash he commented that he had rested well but that he had noticed these discomforts against Nishioka, who put up great resistance on the dirt of the RCTB-1899 Rafa Nadal Court. At the moment he is still in contention, although the physicist could play a trick on a tennis player who was a semifinalist in 2021 in this tournament.