Baptist, during the match. /
The Spanish representation at the Australian Open suffers another two casualties, at the hands of Fritz and De Miñaur
The Spanish Armada failed to get two more rackets into the round of 16 of the Australian Open. Pablo Andújar was left without the opportunity to access, for the first time in his career, the second week of the Oceanic Grand Slam, while Roberto Bautista squandered an advantage of two sets to one and did not take advantage of the good draw that lay ahead. The man from Castellón was one of the great Spanish options to deepen in the tournament, after his practically impeccable role in the ATP Cup, leading the national team to the final. However, Bautista, who had made a very good impression in the first two rounds, suffered a setback against Taylor Fritz. The young American, number 22 in the world, eliminated him in the prelude to the second week (6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3 and 6-3). Bautista had won his last three meetings against Fritz, all without dropping a set, but the Spaniard paid off a horrible start to the match, failing to win his serve once in the first six games.
Fritz played a great return match and broke 10 of Bautista’s 22 serve times, whom he also condemned for his imbalance between winning shots (35) and unforced errors (47), while Fritz placed 73 ‘winners’ . While the American will play the round of 16 for the first time in his life, against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, Bautista falls for the fourth time in the third round in Australia and will not be able to return to the round of 16 three years later.
The elimination of Bautista was joined, already at night in Melbourne, by Pablo Andújar, who made his debut in the third round and could do little against Alex de Miñaur, the last Australian in the men’s draw. The ‘aussie’ imposed a very high level and did not give the Cuencan an option (6-4, 6-4 and 6-3), who will still climb ten places in the classification, at the gates of the ‘top 70’ in the world thanks to his good participation in Australia. These defeats leave Rafa Nadal and Pablo Carreño as the only Spanish representatives in the men’s box and Paula Badosa in the women’s.
In the rest of the tournament, the favorite, Daniil Medvedev remains intractable and reached the second round thanks to Botic van de Zandschlup (6-4, 6-4 and 6-2). He will face Maxime Cressy for a place in the quarterfinals. Nor did Stefanos Tsitsipas fail, who defeated Benoit Paire, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (2) and 6-4.
In the women’s draw, Simona Halep advances stealthily and is already in the round of 16 after overwhelmingly beating Danka Kovinic (6-2 and 6-1). The Romanian will now face Alize Cornet, executioner of Garbiñe Muguruza. Iga Swiatek, Roland Garros champion in 2020, and Aryna Sabalenka also advanced to the second round.
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