Throw the racket Pablo Carreno (31 years old, 15 in the world), raises his arms to the sky and smiles. The last point of his match against Alexander Bublik (25 years old, 47 in the world) is a good summary of all of the above: running, defense, recovery, running again, defending, another blow and another until the Kazakh stays In the net. The Spaniard qualifies for the third round after just three hours of challenge.
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| 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
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| 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 |
The Spaniard maintains the tennis and the quality in the shots that led him to win the Masters 1,000 in Canada a few weeks ago. Aware that the match would be tough because he had faced the Kazakh three times and, although he had won all three, he always had to fight him to the max. In Moscow 2016 he was 6-4, 2-6 and 7-6 (1); in China 2019 it was 6-7 (5), 6-4 and 7-6 (3), and in Monte Carlo 2022 it was 4-6, 7-6 (3) and 4-3 with a strange withdrawal from Bublik, who he decided not to continue playing when he lost serve with a double fault.
Carreño once again faced the challenge of Bublik’s direct play, who has one of his best weapons on serve -he added 28 aces-. And, in addition, he succumbed to the nerves at the beginning to give away a break that, in the end, cost him the first set.
But Carreño is a fighter. The dynamics of the last few weeks and the persistence of his style of play raised the difficulties in the following sets. Forceful from the bottom and minimizing the risks so that it was the Kazakh who took them. Bublik played to the limit, which added 63 winners, to 33 of the Spaniard, and shot the errors to 77. Only in this way, risking everything, could he face this Carreño in a concentrated way that exploits his virtues in his thirties.
He is already in the third round, where he will face the Australian Alex de Miñaur. They have only met once, at Roland Garros 2019. The Spanish won the match, by a resounding 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1.
