Alejandro Davidovich from Malaga accelerated towards the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open and in 78 minutes he settled his debut against the South African Lloyd Harris to win 7-5 and 6-3.
More comfortable on the ground, the one from La Cala del Moral took advantage of two service breaks, one in the final stretch of each set, to achieve his goal and place himself for the second time in the second phase of the Madrid tournament, your roof so far.
Davidovich, who had lost the only previous duel against the South African, in 2021 in Indian Wells, on hard court, managed to break his rival’s serve in the eleventh game of the first set. He then he did it in the eighth. He cemented every break and closed out the match. The finalist of the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud, fifth seeded, in the second round
The number one in the world, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, and also the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, ninth in the ranking and great sensation of the season, will come into action this Tuesday at the Mutua Madrid Open, on the same side of the draw in which he also appears Rafael Nadal who will not debut until Wednesday.
Djokovic and Alcaraz shared track and training the day before his staging. It was a public holiday in Madrid which led to the Caja Mágica being invaded by fans. Especially in the morning session, when the weather was good and before the storm broke into the city and provisionally paralyzed the order of play of the session.
The pull of both players is evident in Madrid. Along with Nadal are the big claims of the most relevant tennis competition in Spain. Where the best always come and whose trophy is one of the most precious on the tour.
A member of the so-called ‘big three’ and the standard-bearer for the ‘next gen’. Face to face. A duel that can be real at the end of the week if both go through the draw. Although Nadal is on the Alcaraz route before, in some presumable quarters. They shared preparation time, rehearsal hours before the official start.
Djokovic will be the great attraction of the daytime session on Tuesday and will have Frenchman Gael Monfils as his first opponent. The Parisian overwhelmed the Spanish Carlos Gimeno, guest of the tournament, in less than an hour.
The world number one, three-time winner in Madrid, the last in 2019, takes advantage of the gravel season to reach the right tone in the season. The last games have allowed him to take a run and park the shocks of the beginning of the course, when he was barely able to compete. Djokovic has put aside the nightmare of the Australian Open, when he was expelled from the country. The refusal to be vaccinated against Covid also displaced him from the American tour. He could not get on the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells or Miami.
After the first third of the season, the Balkan is without a title in 2022.