The Spanish Alejandro Davidovich qualified this Wednesday for the round of 16 of the Washington Open (ATP and WTA 500), a round in which the Russian Andrey Rublev also passed, while the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is already in the quarterfinals.
Davidovich, 44 in the world, faces the American in the second round Mitchell Kruegerwhere he lost the first set 3-6 after giving up two serves.
The Malaga native reacted in the second and third sets, which he won 7-6(3) in the tiebreaker and 6-4.
Davidovich will face the Italian Flavio Cobolli this Thursday in his round of 16 duel.
The canary had a different fate Roberto Carballeswho was eliminated from the capital tournament this Wednesday after losing in the second round against American Aleksandar Kovacevic 7-6(4) and 7-6(3).
Rublev and Sabalenka, classified
On the other side of Davidovich, Rublev, number 8 in the world and seeded in Washington, advanced to the draw.
The Russian lost the first set 4-6 against Frenchman Luca Van Assche and dominated the second 3-2 when the match was suspended due to a severe electrical storm.
The break was good for Rublev, as on the restart hours later he broke the Frenchman’s third game and finished the set with four aces to tie the match.
With the same winning inertia, the Russian broke the fifth game of the third set and saved three break points in the eighth, enough to take the match with a final score of 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
Rublev will face fellow Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech in the round of 16.
At the end of the Rublev duel, almost at night, the Belarusian Sabalenka, number 3 in the world and also seeded in the tournament, jumped on the center court in Washington to make her debut at the Mubadala Citi DC Open with a round of 16. with the Russian which is Kamilla Rakhimova.
Sabalenka has not competed since she withdrew injured from the tournament in Berlin on June 22.
Lacking rhythm and frustrated by her many failures, Sabalenka suffered more than she deserved at number 78 in the WTA rankings.
The Belarusian lost the fourth game, but recovered by breaking the fifth and eleventh, thus taking the first set.
She gave up the second, which Rakhimova took with a break in the tenth game as Sabalenka showed signs of fatigue, but the Belarusian regained her strength in the third to emerge victorious 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 .
In the quarterfinals she will face the winner of the match between her compatriot Victoria Azarenka and the Chinese Yafan Wang.
Russian and Belarusian tennis players found a tournament in Washington to compete, while most of the focus was on the Paris Olympic Games, where Moscow and Minsk were not included.
Both Rublev – gold in Tokyo in doubles – and Sabalenka turned down invitations to compete at the Olympics as neutral athletes, without representing their countries.
In the women’s draw, Paula Badosa, who qualified on Tuesday, is still alive and will play in the round of 16 duel this Thursday with Russian Liudmila Samsonova, number 13 in the WTA ranking.
Source: La Verdad
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