Up to six Spanish players were in action in the men’s singles draw at the Mutua Madrid Open today and they ensured that the home crowd had plenty to cheer about.
Rafa Nadal may grab most of the headlines but the ‘middle class’ players of Spanish tennis proved that the perfect blend of home support, warm weather and clay court tennis suit them to a tee. Roberto Bautista, who could perhaps feel the right to be tagged as something more than a ‘middle class’ player, left a disappointing first round defeat in Barcelona behind him to prevail against the struggling Santiago Giraldo. The Colombian, who has drifted out of the top 100, made it through qualifying in Madrid but has only won six main draw matches all season long and was pipped by his more effective opponent 6-3, 7-5.
Another Spaniard moving upwards in this claycourt season is Pablo Carreño. The 24 year old came within a whisker of claiming his maiden ATP Tour title in Estoril last week (his second final appearance of the season) and carried over those good sensations into Madrid with a surprising victory over Istanbul runner-up Grigor Dimitrov. Consistency overcame sporadic inspiration as Carreño later admitted that “I played very well and dominated with my serve and confidence although I struggled to close out the match. It’s the first time I’ve defeated Dimitrov and I hope to play at the same standard against Simon as I did in Estoril tomorrow”.
The man who defeated Carreño in the Estoril final didn’t fare so well in his first round encounter in the Spanish capital. Nicolas Almagro, visibly fatigued from his efforts in Portugal, was never a match for Borna Coric, who breezed past him 6-2, 6-2. The young Croatian may not feel so happy about his win when he sees himself taking on Novak Djokovic in the next round but he will, like everyone else, draw inspiration from Jiri Vesely’s victory over the world number one in Monte Carlo.
The other two local players to appear today were lefties Albert Ramos and Fernando Verdasco. The former proved too strong for Jeremy Chardy, dispatching the Frenchman by 6-3, 6-4, while the latter (and Bucharest Open winner) couldn’t back up a convincing first round victory against Juan Monaco and was taken out in three sets by Richard Gasquet.
