Tsitsipas beats Baez in Madrid Open; Swotec Advance | tennis news
Stefanos Tsitsipas felt his opponent as quick as a cheetah on Center Court at the Madrid Open.
Point by point, his opponent Sebastien Baez kept chasing balls to stay in contention in the third round match.
Third seed Tsitsipas overcame tough moments though to seal a place in the last 16 of the clay court tournament on Monday with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win over 31st-ranked Baez. ,
Tsitsipas won the last four games of the opening set and the last three games of the third to advance.
Tsitsipas said, “I had to bring the best out of my game.” “He wasn’t missing much. He’s definitely someone who covers and runs the court well. He definitely used that against me very well, navigating himself across the court with ease.” Being able to, just gliding through the court like a panther.
In the third set, Tsitsipas broke serve for 5-3 and saved two break points.
“He really fought for every single point,” Tsitsipas said, “and I’m obviously glad I came through.”
Tsitsipas improved to 8–2 on clay in search of his first title of the season. He was a finalist at the Australian Open and last week in Barcelona. He was also a finalist in Madrid in 2019 and a semi-finalist again in 2022.
Women’s world No. 1 Inga Swiatek dropped her first set of the tournament before pulling off a 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 victory over 16th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. She will face 27th seed Petra Martic in the quarterfinals for the first time in Madrid, who beat 11th seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-6(1).
Swiatek is the first player to reach the quarterfinals or better in eight consecutive clay-court tournaments since Simona Halep finished No. 10 between 2016 and 2019.
Last year’s runner-up in Madrid reached the last eight after beating third seeded American Jessica Pegula 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 over Martina Trevisan.
Second seed Aryna Sabalenka advanced after Russian teenager Mira Andreeva ended an impressive performance in the tournament.
After three straight-set wins against top-40 opponents in her main-draw debut, the 16-year-old wildcard entry lost 6-3, 6-1 to Sabalenka in her first center-court appearance in Madrid.
Andreeva became the youngest player to reach the last 16 of a WTA 1000 event after defeating 2021 US Open finalist Leyla Fernandez in the first round, 14th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia in the second and 19th-ranked Magda Linette in the third. She won 16 straight matches at all levels before losing to Sabalenka, her first top 10 opponent.
“I’m really happy with the result,” Sabalenka said. “The first few matches, I was just trying to adjust to his game and his rhythm. After that I started feeling my game a bit better and started playing better.
Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion and 2021 Madrid Open winner, has reached the quarterfinals or better in all seven tournaments she has played in 2023, posting a 26-4 record for the year.
Her next opponent will be Mayer Sherif, who defeated Alice Merton 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 after nearly three hours to become the first Egyptian player to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament. She was already the first Egyptian woman to play in a Grand Slam, and the first to win a Tour title.
“It means a lot, just mentally, to be able to know that I can do it, that I can compete at the highest level in tennis,” said the number 59 Sheriff, who lives and trains in Spain. Am.” Lots of motivation to keep improving… and obviously to keep that confidence going for the rest of the year.
Ninth seed Maria Sakkari beat home crowd favorite Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-4, while 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova beat eighth seed Daria Kasatkina 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (2). ) beat.
Men’s No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev came back twice from a break down in the last set to beat Alexander Shevchenko of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to make the last 16. The win moved Medvedev to a tour-best 33–4 record. He will next face qualifier Aslan Karatsev, who beat 16th seed Alex de Minaur 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
In other men’s matches, eighth seed Taylor Fritz beat Christian Garin 6-1, 7-6 (4), Zhang Zhizhen beat 11th seed Cameron Norrie 2-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2). ) and Bernabe Zapata Miralles beat qualifier Roman Safiullin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
