Madrid Masters: Zverev beats Bautista Agut on his ‘favourite court in the world’
Alexander Zverev won against Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2 on Friday. He’ll play either Nuno Borges or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the next round
Chryslene Caillaud / Psnewz
German Alexander Zverev, the top seed, defeated Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2 to reach the third round of the Madrid Masters at the Caja Mágica.
Zverev, ranked No 2, will face the winner of the match between Portuguese Nuno Borges and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No 28 seed, next.
The German, who won the BMW Open in Munich last week, has now won six matches in a row.
“It was a good match. In general, I still think I can serve a little bit better. I think all around there are things that I’m working on consistently for past few months, so that’s not stopped. But as I said, I just want to continue playing good tennis, and then the rest will take care of itself,” Zverev said.
“My favorite court in the world” – Zverev on Madrid’s Manolo SantanA Stadium
The German, who has won the Madrid title twice and reached another final, described the Manolo Santana Stadium as his favourite court in the world.
“I love it. I think I said it a lot of times, my favorite court in the world. I have great feelings, great sensations here, great memories here as well. I hope I can make another great memory this year for that.”
Zverev said the high altitude of Madrid was the primary reason that he enjoyed playing here and for his success.
“The altitude. We are on 700 meters altitude. The balls are much faster, much higher bounce. I think the altitude plays a big, big difference. Also center court and, you know, all three big courts, it feels like you’re playing an indoor tournament almost,” the world No 2 added.
In the previous round of the tournament, Bautista Agut, ranked No 55, won against Jaume Munar (6-4, 2-6, 6-3).
Madrid Masters 1000, other second-round results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Joao Fonseca vs. Tommy Paul
- Jack Draper vs. Tallon Griekspoor
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Luciano Darderi
- Karen Khachanov vs. Reilly Opelka
- Grigor Dimitrov vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Matteo Arnaldi vs. Novak Djokovic
- Alexandre Muller vs. Ugo Humbert
- Marcos Giron vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Jacob Fearnley vs. Tomas Machac
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
- Gabriel Diallo vs. Kamil Majchrzak
- Jiri Lehecka vs. Cameron Norrie
- Alex De Minaur vs. Lorenzo Sonego
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Kei Nishikori vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Sebastian Baez vs. Damir Dzumhur
- Flavio Cobolli vs. Holger Rune
- Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
- Nuno Borges vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
- Ben Shelton vs. Mariano Navone
- Brandon Nakashima vs. Sebastian Ofner
- Taylor Fritz vs. Christopher O’Connell: friday
- Jakub Mensik (22) beat Ethan Quinn (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-1
- Sebastian Korda (23) beat Federico Cina (WC): 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
- Alexander Bublik beat Alexei Popyrin (25): 6-4, 7-6 (4)
- Juan Manuel Cerundolo (Q) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (18): 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Laslo Djere
- Casper Ruud (14) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-3, 6-4
- Benjamin Bonzi beat Hubert Hurkacz (27): 6-4, 7-5
- Francisco Comesana beat Arthur Fils (13): 7-6 (4), 6-4
- Francisco Cerundolo (20) beat Harold Mayot (Q): 6-3, 6-4
