Roberto Bautista confirmed this Tuesday in Melbourne that he is going through a good moment of play and results, and that 2022 can be one of those years that starts at full speed. He already showed that his form was optimal in the ATP Cup, until he lost to a great Shapovalov in the final against Canada. And this Australian Open began by recovering from the defeat suffered last year at the first change against the Moldovan Albot. Rober suffered, but he was able to defeat the Italian Stefano Travaglia, whom he defeated 7-6 (2), 6-4, 5-7 and 6-1 in 2h56, and will face veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber (38) on Thursday, with whom he has a negative head-to-head (2-3), although they haven’t met since 2018. “He is a very talented player, he has many variants in his game. last time he beat me in Madrid I had ‘match-ball'”, said Bautista.
With his usual patience, Bautista endured the game to shots from Travaglia, who added 47 winners, but also accumulated unforced errors (75). “I like this tournament, I think the conditions favor me a lot. I also come with energy, spending time at home gives me a lot of oxygen”, said the Spaniard, after a match in which there were 11 breaks, seven of them in his favour. “Travaglia is a rival with streaks and against whom you have to be careful always”, he explained. The only but of the match, was that a third set that was already close to the tiebreaker escaped him. “It was quite windy and it wasn’t an easy day to play,” he justified before telling what he has been doing with his new team, led by his countryman Daniel Gimeno Traver, whom he has known for years: “I have worked on the aggressiveness and the right, the rival has to notice that I dominate with this blow”.
Carballés falls on the shore
Roberto Carballés was close to beating the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, but finally fell in five sets after taking the lead in the third: 6-1, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 and 6-4 after 3h40 of battle. The Tenerife native, who last year did get through the first round after beating Balasz before losing in the second against Medvedev, did not take advantage of his rival’s multiple failures (66), which in all fairness, should also be noted that he connected 60 winners. His next rival will be Andrei Rublev.
Great start for Andújar
Pablo Andújar advanced to the second round of the Australian Open for the fourth time, his best result so far, after beating a rival that was not the one he had originally been assigned, Belarusian Ilya Ivashka, who resigned due to injury and was replaced by Damir Dzumhur. The man from Cuenca won 6-1, 7-5 and 6-1 in 1h49 to face Safiullin on Thursdaysubstitute for the injured Ruud, of Molcan. The Spaniard minimized the errors (16) and broke his rival’s serve six times, in the seven opportunities available to him. He also shone in percentage of firsts (85%).
Australian Open Men’s Draw.