One day after passing the preliminary phase of the Millennium Estoril Open without losing sets, Bernabé Zapata Miralles has qualified for the second round of the tournament. And also in straight sets: this Monday he went 6-4, 6-3 to prevail over Argentine Federico Coria and finish with a record of 3-6 in main draws of the ATP Tour 2022.
The World No. 123 got into trouble in the opening set: although he won his first game the rest of the match, Coria caught up and served to take a 5-3 lead, but Zapata Miralles won the next three games to stay. with the partial lasting 42 minutes.
The second set was not easy for the Spaniard either, who could not confirm his break of 3-2, but he did the one of 4-3. And after one hour and 23 minutes, the 25-year-old right-hander sealed his victory to bring the pair’s record to 1-0, to improve to 6-0 this week in sets and to add the third victory of his career against a member of the Top-55.
This score quotes Zapata with his compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, seeded fourth in the tournament, No. 28 in the world and against whom he has a 0-1 record. It will be the first meeting between the two on clay. A win for the underdog would bring him closer to his first break into the Top-100.
In other results of the day, Frances Tiafoe prevailed 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 against Serbian Dusan Lajovic to sign the comeback of the day. Rafael Nadal won the Melbourne Summer Set before clinching his 21st Major at the Australian Open in spectacular fashion.
He then went on to lift the Mexican Open trophy.
Nadal will play the Mutua Madrid Open
Boris Becker believes Rafael Nadal looked “invincible” at the start of the season and that his rib injury came at the worst possible time.
“Nadal was actually considered invincible until he injured himself in the semi-final against Alcaraz, who played for over three hours,” Becker said. During the conversation, Boris Becker acknowledged that Rafael Nadal was initially the hands-down favorite for Roland Garros, but cautioned that things might no longer be the same.
“Until the injury, he was considered the favorite for Roland Garros and now he has to get healthy again and play his first matches on clay,” Becker said. “And it is not yet clear when he will start again. He won’t play Monte Carlo.
He also cancelled Barcelona, so Madrid at the earliest. Paris – that’s in three weeks,” Becker added. “So good luck that the Spaniard will be healthy.”
