The men's team at the Mutua Madrid Open now only has Rafa Nadal as the Spanish representative, after the defeats this Wednesday of Alejandro Davidovich, Albert Ramos and Roberto Bautista, who were left out in the second round.
Davidovich caressed for more than an hour the possibility of achieving the biggest victory of his career against world number three, Daniil Medvedev, but the Russian, lost and grumpy during the first set and part of the second, recovered and rallied to get into the round of 16 in his first match of the season on clay: 4-6, 6-4 and 6-2 in 2h: 12. He will face a specialist like the Chilean Christian Garín, who overcame the German Dominik Koepfer (6-3 and 6-4) without too many problems.
Medvedev, a tennis player who does not feel comfortable on clay, showed maturity to understand the situation, bow his head and make the effort necessary to defeat a brave Davidovich who had posed the match magnificently to him. But the man from Malaga needed to take so many risks to succeed, that he made quite a few mistakes (36) and He ended up devastated by the demand of the long exchanges that the Muscovite proposed to him, a player who, when he wants, has a lot of patience.
The first set was played by Alejandro from you to you, he endured Medvedev's somewhat disorderly onslaught and even he allowed himself the luxury of earning him a point with a serve down. It also burned him with sloppiness, so much so that in the second round, the ATP Finals champion grumbled and didn't even run to answer one of them. It was a phase in which he constantly addressed his team, complaining that his backhand was not working as he wanted. But as the minutes passed, he calmed down and put things in their place.
Delbonis stops Ramos
Albert Ramos already said it after beating Taylor Fritz on Tuesday, his match with Federico Delbonis did not look good, with whom he had a negative balance of 2-4. The Catalan ended up fused against the American Fritz, with the problems that he drags in the adductor of his right leg from Estoril, where he was champion, and this Wednesday all that took its toll. The Argentine won 7-6 (5) and 6-3 in 1h: 39 and will be the one who will face Italian Matteo Berrettini in the second round. Ramos' record on clay stands at 17 victories for the moment. His great campaign, which will continue next week in Rome and then at Roland Garros, with options to enter another tournament earlier.
Bautista can't handle Isner's 32 aces
Roberto Bautista fought against a windmill like John Isner (2.08), whom he had won a few weeks ago in Miami when the american placed him 23 direct aces on hard court. This time he could not counteract the 32 that he put on clay, an outrage, for a total of 54 winners, and fell in the tiebreaker of the third set after have a match ball: 6-4, 6-7 (4) and 7-6 (6). Little can be blamed for the Castellón, beyond the setback that crashed in the network when he was already caressing the victory after having put the Arantxa Sánchez Vicario public on their feet by having raised a 5-2 in that tie-break. A shame, because perhaps because of his dedication, his resilience and the way he fought, he would have deserved to win. Although it is true that Isner, with his weapons and the good hand he has, did not lag behind. In the last moments of the match, he had the courage to subtract Bautista's services well within the court and to serve-net in his turns. It went well for him and today he will face Russian Andrey Rublev in the round of 16.
Results, table and calendar.