The two Spanish veterans give in to the strength of Australian Open: Rafa Nadal, on the Djokovic case: "No tennis player is above the Australian Open"”>Taylor Fritz (6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3) and Alex de Miñaur (6-4, 6-4, 6-2).
The aggressiveness of Taylor Fritz, author of 73 winners, including 19 aces, weighed too heavily on Robert Baptist, who said goodbye to the Australian Open after a match full of alternatives (6-0, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3), where the player from Castellón made 47 unforced errors. Much more convincing was the defeat of Pablo Andujar in view of Alex de Miñaur (6-4, 6-4, 6-2), resolved after only 127 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.
His seven previous victories over Fritz were of no use to Bautista, because the American imposed the power of his drive at the KIA Arena, where this week they also lost in the fifth set Jaume Munar Y Alexander Davidovich. The magnificent sensations experienced before Philip Kohlschreiber they soon vanished for the man from Castellón, who only won 10 points in the first set (6-0).
With a first serve that was usually around 200 km/h, Fritz repeated the high level of play against Francis Tiafoe. Not only did he survive Bautista’s furious reaction in the second and third sets, but he maintained his poise in the critical moments of the final set, closed with a double fault from the Spaniard.
The irregularity with Bautista’s serve materialized in 19 balls of break conceded and a poor percentage of points with his first service (56%). Fritz will be measured in eighths to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who conceded a set against the unpredictable Benoit Pair (6-3, 7-5, 6-7 [2], 6-4).
Debut at almost 36 years old
The strength of the youngsters was also evident in the generational duel between De Miñaur (22 years old) and Andújar, who at 36 was making his debut at the Rod Laver Arena. The man from Cuenca never had a choice, since he had just left Damir Dzumhur Y Alex Molcan, which will facilitate his ascent of 10 positions in the ATP rankings that are published on Monday.
Andújar will now have to focus on the doubles draw, where he participates in the company of Pedro Martínez. Their opponents in the round of 16 will be Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. De Miñaur’s next rival, meanwhile, will be Jannik Sinner, which was undone without excessive problems of Taro Daniel (6-4, 1-6, 6-3 and 6-1).
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