Alexander Zverev opened his account at the Mutua Madrid Masters in a positive manner as he attempts to emulate his success in Munich where he won the title for a third time.
This is my favourite centre court in the world, I only lost twice here in my entire life, Alexander Zverev
The top seed, who has twice before lifted the Madrid title, is set on scoring another hat-trick as he extends his current run of wins to six with the 6-2 6-2, 69-minute demolition of the Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut.
“[It was] a good match, I knew I had to focus against Roberto,” said Zverev, who dominated the match. “I knew that it was going to be a tough challenge, and I’m very happy with the win.”
“This is my favourite centre court in the world, I only lost twice here in my entire life,” said Zverev, who next faces another Spaniard and the only home player left in the draw, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, a 6-2 6-3 winner over Portugal’s Nuno Borges. “I hope that stays the way throughout the next 10 days and that I can continue playing good tennis. As long as I do that I’m happy.”
His passage to a possible third title was made easier by the departure of Holger Rune, who retired in his opener with Italy’s Flavio Cobolli after losing the first set 6-2. The Dane, who won the Barcelona title last weekend, had a medical time-out during that set and cited a thigh injury for his retirement.
There were two other retirements that benefited two Russians, the defending champion Andrei Rublev (7) and Daniil Medvedev (9)—players who could give Zverev trouble in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
Taylor Fritz makes a welcome return
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Third seed Taylor Fritz, following some abdominal problems over the last few months, looked fit as he romped past Aussie Chris O’Connell, adapting quickly to the clay court having not played on that surface since the Paris Olympics last year.
“It feels great to come back and play a really solid match,” the American said. “I didn’t want to jinx it before the match, but I was telling my coach that I was really impressed with how my level has been in practice the last couple of days.
“The first ball I hit since the match I lost in Miami was the day before I flew here, so I had three weeks of nothing, then five days of tennis. I’m super happy I can come out and produce that level on the little bit of prep I had.”
Fritz faces Benjamin Bonzi next, after the Frenchman ousted the Pole Hubert Hurkacz 6-4 7-5 and will no doubt hope to emulate his run of last year when he made the last four.
Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Czech Jakub Mensik claimed his first win since triumphing at the Masters in Miami last month by moving past American qualifier Ethan Quinn 7-6(4) 6-1, after slamming 14 aces down in the 80-minute clash.
He will now take on the 12th seed Ben Shelton, who was kept on court for two hours and 19 minutes as he recovered from the loss of his opening set to defeat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3—who had served for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
In other action, Norwegian Casper Ruud (14) defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknecht 6-3 6-4 and will take on Argentina’s Juan Martin Cerundolo, who in turn ousted last year’s runner-up, Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime (18), 7-6(5) 6-4.
Two other Argentinians joined him in the third round, Francisco Comesana and Francisco Cerundolo. Comesana rallied from 1-5 in the first set to earn a thrilling 7-6(4) 6-4 victory over 13th seed Arthur Fils of France, while Cerundolo (20) eased past another Frenchman, qualifier Harold Mayot 6-3 6-4.
