MADRID, 10 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista was the only survivor of the ‘Armada’ on Monday in the Monte Carlo tournament, the third Masters 1,000 of the season and which is played on clay, after overcoming a tough debut against the Serbian Filip Krajinovic , against whom he saved a match point before winning 5-7, 7-6(10), 6-1.
The player from Castellón forgot his current bad streak for a moment and broke a dynamic of four consecutive defeats, the last three in his first game, although he needed almost three hours to do so against an opponent who was close to asserting his status as ‘lucky loser’ ‘.
Bautista and Krajinovic fought a disputed duel from the start. The Serbian, after saving four break balls, broke the Spaniard’s serve and took advantage, although the man from Castellón managed to balance the game in the eighth game. However, he lost his serve again at 5-5 and the Balkan no longer squandered this advantage.
The second set was even more balanced as both defended their services and had to risk it in the ‘tie-break’, although the player from Castellón had a set point on Krajijovic’s last serve. This raised another four more in the ‘sudden death’ to enjoy a match, which Bautista saved to later force a third and final partial where he already ended the resistance of the Serbian.
On the other hand, neither Albert Ramos nor Bernabé Zapata could accompany him to the second round on the red clay of the Principality. The man from Barcelona was unable to beat the German Jan-Lennard Struff (6-4, 6-2) and the Valencian fell to the Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi (6-1, 7-5).