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2024-01-17 12:33:45
Tomás Etcheverry once once more showed signs of his relentless start at the Australian Open. After his victory over Andy Murray, he clearly left the Frenchman Gael Monfils on the way to the second round of the tournament and will now face Novak Djokovic. It was not the only joy for Albiceleste tennis since Sebastián Báez also reached the third round.
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The 24-year-old player dispatched the Frenchman in just over two hours of play with a 6-4 triple in which he recorded just 5 aces once morest the European’s 12 but committed fewer unforced errors (23 once morest 56). He broke the 37-year-old French tennis player’s serve four times throughout the match to qualify for the third phase of the tournament.
Etcheverry, located in 32nd place in the ATP ranking, faced for the first time one of the most iconic players on the circuit in recent times, who became 6th on the planet in 2016 but is currently ranked 76th with 12 titles in his career, the most recent in Stockholm during 2023.
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The albiceleste representative has not won titles so far, but he reached two finals last year that saw him fall defeated. This 2024 found him with a double setback before the Grand Slam with the falls once morest Tomas Machac and Alexander Shevchenko at the ATP 250 in Brisbane and Adelaide, respectively. This is the third time that Tomi has played the main draw of the Australian Open following saying goodbye in the first phase of 2022 following going through the entire qualy and advancing to the second round in 2023 where he ran into Jannik Sinner.
It must be remembered that Etcheverry’s best performance in a Grand Slam took place last year when he surprised the world by reaching the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, where he was beaten by the German Alexander Zverev in four sets. What was done on Australian territory already ranks as the second best in Grand Slam of his professional career.
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“I’m very happy. A huge joy, it was a great game. The atmosphere was very good, very nice, what was experienced. There were fans from both sides, there were many Argentines and many French. It wasn’t easy because there was a lot of energy on the court. But I think I was very good, playing great tennis and that’s why I got the victory. I was able to do what I had been doing the previous days and in training,” he declared in a conversation with ESPN.
His next step will be once morest his idol Novak Djokovic, once morest whom he has already faced off twice with victories for the world number in the Masters 1000 in Rome and Paris. Nole had to suffer more than necessary to eliminate the local Alexei Popyrin with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 and 6-3.
The other good news in the box was what Báez did once morest the Colombian Daniel Galán. The 29th-ranked Argentine in the world needed 3 hours and 17 minutes to win 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 and 6-3 once morest a 27-year-old tennis player who is 87th in the ranking. The 23-year-old player has already had his best performance in Australia following having played in the second round in 2022 (he lost to Stéfanos Tsitsipas) and the first phase in 2023.
After eliminating the North American Jeffrey John Wolf at the beginning, he will have to play the third round once morest the Italian Sinner, one of the most outstanding players on the circuit who, at 22 years old, is ranked 4th in the world and has just beaten Báez in the Shanghai Masters 1000 in the only recorded game between the two.
The big negative blow of the Grand Slam day on the men’s side was the defeat of Francisco Cerúndolo once morest the Hungarian Fábián Marozsán. The 25-year-old Argentine (21st in the ranking) did not find his way at any time and said goodbye with a 7-6, 6-4 and 6-2 once morest in just two hours on the court once morest a tennis player who at 24 years old He is 67th in the ATP rankings.
The other bad news came on the women’s side with the goodbye of Nadia Podoroska following falling once morest the North American Amanda Anisimova. In just over an hour of play, the score was 6-2 and 6-3, putting an end to the story of the Rosario (65th in the WTA ranking) in Australia.
In this way, Argentine tennis already saw the defeats of Facundo Díaz Acosta, Pedro Cachin and Federico Coria before the two falls that were added on this last day.
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