Carreño regains his smile – AS.com

Pablo Carreño brought out his best game again in Basel. The Spanish tennis player did not arrive at the Swiss event at his best moment: in his last two tournaments (Gijón and Naples), he said goodbye prematurely. Especially painful was the first, in front of his audience and forgiving nine match balls. Today, against the Argentine Sebastián Sáez, Carreño recovered a high-level tennis. He overcame his rival by a resounding 6-2 and 6-1 in just 61 minutes, and advance steadily to the second round.

Since his triumph at the Masters 1,000 in Montreal, the Olympic medalist had accumulated five losses and five wins, and his duel this Tuesday against Báez (number 39 in the world, 21 years old) was a real litmus test for Pablo. The man from Gijon was not intimidated, who immediately broke his opponent’s service and took advantage in a first set that he took with another break. In the second round he took advantage of the inertia, and took an initial 4-0 that allowed him to close the match with ease. The Spaniard shot for effectiveness in the match (four of five break balls won) and he became strong with his serve (83% of points won on his first serve). He is already waiting in the second round for the winner of the duel between Cressy and Stricker.