Arthur Fils saved the French’s bad day in Barcelona, after the successive eliminations of Alexandre Müller, Luca Van Assche and Ugo Humbert. He did it in three rounds against Daniel Altmaier (6-4, 1-6, 6-1). First a serious and realistic first set capitalizing on an entry break. Then a second where the Frenchman completely disintegrated, quickly refusing to fight. And a magnificent reaction in the last round to finish, by resuming the basics of his attacking game.
Accepting the fight, compact on his accelerations, Fils (100% of points won on first ball in this set) completely put the German under the extinguisher who only managed to score four points before being led 5- 0.
Altmaier has still not won two matches in a row on the main circuit since the Auckland tournament in January where he lost in the quarter-finals against… Arthur Fils (withdrawal). The Frenchman will play his round of 16 against Alex de Minaur, who defeated Rafael Nadal.
