It was not easy for Pablo Carreño to return to the tennis circuit after his ordeal with injuries, the most serious being persistent tendonitis in his elbow that forced him to have surgery. But little by little the work is bearing fruit. The 33-year-old Spaniard reached the semifinals of the ATP 250 in Winston-Salem last August and on this occasion he went to the second round of the Australian Open with a quiet victory against Kamil Majchrzak (6-4, 6-4, 6- 3).
The tennis player from Gijón saved three break chances in the first set and did the same on the Pole’s serve at 4-4. In the second set, the Spaniard quickly took the initiative with an early break and avoided two of his rival’s options with his serve to put a double 6-4 on the scoreboard. Finally, Carreño completely let go and completely dominated Majchrzak to emerge victorious with a two-break lead at 6-3. His opponent in the second round of the Australian tournament will be the American Ben Shelton, a match that will take place next Thursday.
On the other hand, Roberto Bautista, 36, has fought until the end, but has not managed to impose his game in the first round of the Australian Open against Denis Shapovalov. The Canadian is undoubtedly one of their betes noires, as shown by his superiority in the face-to-face match between the two by 4-0. This time, the Spaniard fell 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 6-7 (8-10).
The situation invited optimism for the Castellón native after the first set, with a 6-3 victory after several mutual breaks. In fact, in the second set they started with a favorable 3-0. However, his rival turned the dynamic around by successfully increasing his aggressiveness with his forehand, tying the match with a result of 6-4 in his favor.
In the third set, both players successfully maintained their serve until a fateful 4-4 for Bautista, at which point he conceded a break in a game in which he led 40-15. Shapovalov gave no room for surprises, making the final score 6-4 and taking command of the match.
In the fourth set, the two tennis players had three break opportunities that they could not take advantage of in the first two games. From then on, the North American and the Spaniard won all their serve games, taking the match to a tie-break. The player from Castellón could not take advantage of a favorable 6-3 in the match and finally lost the tiebreaker 10-8. In this way, the Canadian’s opponent in the second round of the Australian Open will be the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, a match that will take place next Thursday.
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