The Spanish Albert Ramos and Bernabé Zapata They had no chance in their first round matches at the Australian Open after losing decisively to the Norwegian Casper Ruud (11) and the Czech Jiri Lehecka (32), respectively.
Catalan Ramos, who suffered more than his rival from the intense heat in Melbourne, failed to end his bad streak on the banks of the Yarra River and suffered his sixth straight defeat in the premiere of the first ‘slam’ of year.
He went down in a crash by an indisputable 6-1, 6-3 and 6-1 (two hours and six minutes), against a Ruud who was more physically prepared to face these extreme conditions.
Ramos, who is ranked 85th in the ATP list, suffered mainly on his serve after collecting 60% of the first serves in the game, of which he only got 54%.
“It’s warmer today, so I tried to go out very strong. In my country it’s minus eleven degrees, but I had a good preseason,” commented the Norwegian, who will face local Max Purcell or the Hungarian from the previous round in in the next round. Mate Valkusz.
This is the fourth time a Nordic tennis player has reached the fourth round Melbourne Park and equaled his score from the last edition, where he started as second favorite, after an unexpected loss to the American Jenson Brooksby.
Valencian Zapata also bid farewell to the fast track, stumbling over Czech Lehecka 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3 in one hour and 42 minutes.
Zapata also failed to clear the first round barrier in his second appearance, having also fallen in the 2023 premiere against the Russian. Karen Khachanov by 7-6(2), 6-2 and 6-0.
The Czech’s next obstacle is the 19-year-old American Alex Michelsenwho won against local and away James McCabe.
After the defeat of Ramos and Zapata, the Spanish representation in the men’s team was reduced to the participation of Carlos Alcaraz (2), Alejandro Davidovich (23) and Jaume Munar.
Source: La Verdad
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