No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany had little trouble defeating Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2 in 70 minutes in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday in Spain.
Zverev’s first match following a first-round bye saw him smash 10 aces with just one double fault. His serves were dominant in general, as he won 32 of 42 total service points (76.2 percent) and never faced break point.
Zverev, the 2018 and 2021 champion in Madrid, had a whopping 30-4 advantage in total winners.
“This is my favorite center court in the world,” Zverev said. “I only lost twice here in my entire life. I hope that stays (that) way throughout the next 10 days and that I can continue playing good tennis. As long as I do that I’m happy.”
No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz had a similar showing against Australian Christopher O’Connell. The American won 6-1, 6-4 in 75 minutes.
Fritz had five aces without a double fault and won an overwhelming 27 of his 31 first-serve points (87.1 percent).
“It feels great to come back and play a really solid match,” Fritz 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.”
Fritz revealed that he gave himself a break following his last tournament, the Miami Open in March.
“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,” Fritz said. “I’m super happy I can come out and produce that level on the little bit of prep I had.”
No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev and No. 9 seed Daniil Medvedev, both of Russia, advanced via walkover against France’s Gael Monfils and Serbia’s Laslo Djere, respectively. Rublev is the defending champion.
American No. 12 seed Ben Shelton rallied past Argentina’s Mariano Navone 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Shelton was down a break for most of the second set but forced the tiebreaker and flipped the momentum in his favor.
Argentina’s Francisco Comesana pulled off the biggest upset of the day, beating French No. 13 seed Arthur Fils 7-6 (4), 6-4. Comesana’s countryman Juan Manuel Cerundolo knocked off Canadian 18th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (5), 6-4; Auger-Aliassime reached the finals in Madrid in 2024.
Other winners included No. 14 Casper Ruud of Norway, No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, Czech 22nd seed Jakub Mensik, No. 23 Sebastian Korda and No. 31 Brandon Nakashima of the U.S., No. 28 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik and France’s Benjamin Bonzi.
No. 8 seed Holger Rune of Denmark bowed out early with a quadriceps injury, retiring against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli after losing their first set 6-2.
–Field Level Media
