Retired without playing Carlos Alcaraz and removed Rafael Nadal In the second round, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, has not only been left without its two great stars but also without Spanish representation in the quarterfinals. Since 1989, 35 years ago, nothing like this has happened. The day also had a surprise with the elimination of Alex DeMiñaur, Nadal’s executioner, at the hands of the Frenchman Arthur Son (7-5, 6-2), one of the new promises of French tennis, coached by Sergi Burguera.
In Alexander Davidovich before the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (7-6 (10), 3-6, 6-1), in Roberto Bautista before the British Cameron Norrie (6-4, 6-3) o Roberto Carballés ante Stefanos Tsitsipas (7-5, 6-3) were able to avoid the collapse of Spanish tennis in this edition of the tournament that already began with only nine representatives in the draw, the shortest since 1978 and four of them with a wild card.
Since Juan Carlos Ferrero entered his name in the tournament’s record in 2001, at the beginning of this century, the Nadal’s dominance (between 2005 and 2022) and the appearance of Alcaraz (2022-23) has marked a victorious trend completed by Carlos Moya (2003), Tommy Robredo (2004) y Fernando Verdasco (2010). In that golden era only the Argentine Gaston Gaudio (2002), the Japanese Kei Nishikori (2014-15) and the Austrian Dominik Thiem (2019) had broken Spanish dominance.
Tsitsipas, very solid
Carballés He was the last one who could avoid the Spanish debacle but he faced the most difficult mission to avoid it when he entered the last turn of the center to face Tsitsipas, finalist on three occasions (2018, 2021 and 2023) and recent Monte Carlo champion. The tennis player from Granada, 31 years old and 72nd in the world, jumped into the center with nothing to lose and prepared to do battle with a brave game. In the presence of Joan Laporta, in the presidency, and Joao Pinto, in a nearby box, Carballés kept up with the Greek tennis player in the first set, where he made the first break, against a Tsitsipas who was focused and very solid. to avoid any surprises.
Before, in the morning, Bautista He was the first to say goodbye to the British Cameron Norrie (31st worldwide). The tennis player from Castellón, 36 years old and 84 in the world, is far from his best form that led him to win 11 titles and be ninth in the world in 2019. On Wednesday Bautista had added his 400th victory on the circuit but against the Briton he was far from his best level due to injuries, the last being a sprained ankle.
Didn’t get past the round of 16 either. Davidovich. The tennis player from Malaga, 24 years old and 27th in the world, was the one who had the most real options to enter the quarterfinals as he had done the previous year, but he is not having a good season (8-8) and he was appreciated against Lajovic.
Davidovichwho had not yet played a match due to the withdrawal of his first rival in the second round, let four setballs escape in the tie break of the first set, which he lost 12-10, and could only win one game in the third set after wasting 4 break points to get closer to 3-2.
The quarterfinals of the final In this Friday’s day that will begin at 12:30 they are like this: Tsitsipas (Gre, 5)-Díaz Acosta (Arg), Fils (Fra)- Lajovic (Cro), Arnaldi (Ita,)-Ruud (Nor, 3) and Norrie (GB, 12)-Etcheverry (Arg, 13)
2024-04-18 18:45:06
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