The Malaga-born Alejandro Davidovich qualified this Wednesday for the round of 16 of the Montpellier tennis tournament (France) by defeating, in a first round Spanish duel, the Valencian Bernabé Zapata by 7-6 (3), 5-7 and 6-2.
The clash offered continuous alternatives on the scoreboard for both players, with eleven service breaks, although in the third set the superiority of number 56 of the ATP classification was evident.
Davidovich took a 3-1 lead in the opening set that Zapata reversed immediately to balance the shock.
After 5-5, Davidovich again broke his rival's serve and he returned the coin again, leading the set to a tiebreaker in which the Andalusian player was clearly more effective: He went ahead 5-1 and then managed his lead to win 7-3.
With a similar development in the second sleeve, Davidovich was unable to capitalize on a 3-0 early lead and was tied 4-4 tflush wasting three break balls in the eighth game.
It was then Zapata, number 146 in the world at 24 years old, the next to add a break (6-5) and close the set in white with his serve.
The Valencian took advantage of that momentum to break Davidovich's serve in the initial game of the final set, but his resistance reached that point: his rival rallied to 2-1, took the score to 5-2 and settled the shock to the rest with five minutes to go to two hours of play.
The next rival of Davidovich will be the fourth seed of the box, the Pole Hubert Hurzacz.
Another Spanish, Roberto Bautista, is the first favorite of the tournament. He is exempt from the initial round and awaits a rival in the second round.