Bautista closes the path to Murray and gets into the round of 16 in Australia

MADRID, 21 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista has advanced to the round of 16 of the Australian Open, the first ‘Grand Slam’ of the season, after beating the British Andy Murray (6-1, 6-7(7) this Saturday in a disputed match. 6-3, 6-4), who has not been able to prolong his ‘magic’ in the ‘big’ ocean.

The man from Castellón, current number 25 in the world, took advantage of the fatigue in the Scotsman’s legs, who had accumulated 10 hours and 34 minutes at the start of the tournament -six hours more than the Spaniard-, to hit him hard in a first set in which he used two ‘breaks’ to take the lead in just 29 minutes.

However, Murray reacted at the Margaret Court Arena even after the 3-1 with which Bautista had managed to place himself in the second round. He recovered the break in the eighth game (4-4) and forced a tie-break, where he saved two set points before leveling the match.

Bautista remained calm and, in the third set, increased his accuracy with the first serve (100%) and signed a solitary break to win it 6-3. In the fourth and final set, he counterbreaked Murray’s break in the second game and broke serve again in the ninth to take victory after three hours and 29 minutes of play.

Now, on his fifth occasion in the second week at Melbourne Park, he will face American Tommy Paul in the round of 16, number 35 in the ATP ranking and executioner of Alejandro Davidovich in the second round and who won the fratricidal duel against Jenson Brooksby ( 6-1, 6-4, 6-3).