Americans Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe both made winning starts at the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday by coming through challenging opening matches in straight sets. Fritz edged Christopher O’Connell 7-6(11), 6-4, with Tiafoe wrapping a 6-3, 7-6(5) win against Tomas Martin Etcheverry soon after.

Fritz, fresh off consecutive semi-finals in Monte-Carlo and Munich, continued his strong clay-court form as the eighth seed in Madrid by beating fellow Munich semi-finalist O’Connell.

“It’s just understanding what I need to change. Because I’ve always been a believer in not really changing your game too much to go to different surfaces,” Fritz said of his recent success on the dirt. “As it turns out for clay, I play much better when I do make pretty drastic changes in where I’m standing and stuff like that. So it’s just about finding that, finding what works best for me on clay.”

The 25-year-old needed eight set points before closing out the first set in a marathon tie-break, 13/11, against Australia’s O’Connell, saving two set points to edge ahead on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. He earned the first and only break of the match early in the second set and then saved a break point on his own serve to consolidate for 3-1.

Fritz saved one break point in each set and finished with eight aces and an 83 per cent win rate (34/41) on first serve, backed up by a 72 per cent mark (23/32) on second serve. He will next face Cristian Garin, who upset 27th seed Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-4 in two hours, 42 minutes.

Tiafoe made a fast start against Etcheverry but needed to break to extend the second set as the Argentine served at 5-4. Though he had not created a break chance since the fourth game of the match, Tiafoe managed to draw level at the crucial moment and then won a dramatic tie-break that saw seven of 12 points go against serve.

The ninth seed will next meet another Argentine in Pedro Cachin, who upset his countryman and 24th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-6(6) to reach the third round.

Ben Shelton has imposed his explosive game on the ATP Tour this season, rising into the Top 40 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings with his electric style of play. The American has also shown an uncanny knack for inventive shotmaking this season, with his athleticism creating opportunities for unexpected moments from all parts of the court.

On Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open, the 20-year-old produced what may have been his most impressive shot yet. Scrambling wide to retrieve a deep, angled volley from Jan-Lennard Struff in their second-round match, Shelton pulled off a behind-the-back flick to stun the German, who appeared to have the line covered before the passing shot snuck past him.

It was not the first time Shelton went behind his back for a winner this season. In Acapulco, he showed quick thinking and quicker hands to stab a majestic, no-look volley into the open court in doubles action.

While Shelton and partner Mackenzie McDonald used the momentum from that moment of brilliance to upset fourth seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in Acapulco, the American came up just short against Struff in Madrid, with the German advancing 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

Dusan Lajovic is running red hot on the European clay.

The Serbian notched his third Top 10 win in the space of nine days on Saturday at the Mutua Madrid Open by taking out seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Lajovic clinched an enthralling second-round encounter with a stunning start to the deciding-set tie-break. He charged to a 5/0 lead against a tight Auger-Aliassime, who then threatened a remarkable comeback but was unable to prevent Lajovic converting his sixth match point for a two-hour, 34-minute win.

“It was super tight at the end,” said Lajovic, who had let slip his first two match points at 6-5 on the Auger-Aliassime serve in the final set. “I was just hoping that he was going to stay back on my serve, because when he was coming in, I was feeling a lot of pressure.

“We opened up the last point. I tried to play heavy on my forehand but because my hand was tight, it was really going short until in the end [one] came up well.”

A stunning display of tennis from @Dutzee as he triumphs over Auger-Aliassime 6-2 3-6 7-6 in Madrid 🙌@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/2l1XWoxGN2

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 29, 2023

Lajovic defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 6 Andrey Rublev en route to his second ATP Tour title in Banja Luka last week. He is now 16-7 for 2023 and 3-0 against Auger-Aliassime, having beaten the Canadian at the 2020 ATP Cup and in Toronto in 2021.

“Today in the match I really felt like I was going in to show my game,” said Lajovic, when asked about his hat-trick of Top 10 wins. “I knew I would have chances if I played my best tennis. It’s really a good feeling to have this much confidence, but I need to be also very careful because it is so easy to lose confidence, especially in tennis.”

The World No. 40 will play Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round at the Caja Magica, where he now holds a 7-4 record. The German lucky loser Struff also held his nerve in a deciding set on Saturday to down 32nd seed Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-5.

As well as Auger-Aliassime, there were also second-round defeats for seeded players Tommy Paul and Daniel Evans on Saturday in Madrid.

Qualifier Roman Safiullin took down the 14th-seeded Paul 6-3, 7-6(3) to advance to the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time. Safiullin saved both break points he faced in his 99-minute win against Paul, and the 25-year-old has now risen two spots to No. 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in the Spanish capital.

Safiullin’s next opponent is Bernabe Zapata Miralles. The home favourite brushed past 19th seed Evans 6-3, 6-2 to ensure a Spanish presence remains in the bottom half of the Madrid draw.

Thirty-two wins and counting for Daniil Medvedev in 2023.

Not even the move to his less-favoured clay has stopped the 27-year-old from racking up victories on the ATP Tour. Following his quarter-final run in Monte-Carlo, Medvedev made a rock-solid start to his Mutua Madrid Open campaign on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Italian qualifier Andrea Vavassori.

Medvedev stayed patient against the World No. 164 Vavassori, notching a late break of serve in each set to complete an 82-minute triumph. Vavassori had claimed the biggest win of his career against Andy Murray in the first round at the Caja Magica, but the second-seeded Medvedev’s combination of huge serving and relentless baseline hitting proved a step too far for the Italian.

“I played well today. I felt [good],” said Medvedev, who saved all three break points he faced in his second-round win. “There were some tight moments in the match, but when we had rallies from the baseline, I felt like many times I was in control. I’m really happy about my level.”

With the win, Medvedev improved to 2-3 in Madrid, where he also reached the third round in 2021. Despite frequently acknowledging he does not feel his most comfortable on clay, the 19-time tour-level titlist hopes his opening victory can be the foundation for a bigger run in the Spanish capital.

“I just want to play my best,” said Medvedev. “Sure, everyone is saying here I should like it a little bit more than other clay courts because the serve goes a bit faster, the court is faster. So far I haven’t done well in Madrid, but today was a great match and I just hope for more matches like this in the next two weeks.”

The World No. 3 Medvedev is now 32-4 for the year. He is chasing his fifth tour-level trophy of the season in Madrid, where he now prepares for a third-round clash against another qualifier, Alexander Shevchenko.

Shevchenko backed up his first-round win against J.J. Wolf in Madrid in style by dismantling the 31st seed Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 6-1. The 22-year-old converted all five break points he earned and powered 24 winners in his 45-minute victory as he reached the third round on his ATP Masters 1000 main-draw debut.

The fast-rising Shevchenko has already won two ATP Challenger Tour events (including one in Madrid earlier this month) in 2023 and broke the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time on 17 April.

Five Top 10 seeds will open their Mutua Madrid Open campaigns on Saturday at the ATP Masters 1000, with the second round of singles action to be completed on Day 4 of main-draw play.

Two men’s matches feature on Manolo Santana Stadium, with Stefanos Tsitsipas meeting Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev facing Andrea Vavassori. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Denis Shapovalov highlight the ATP Tour action on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, while a busy doubles slate sees each of the top three seeds in their first action of the week.

ATPTour.com breaks down some of the biggest matchups on Saturday’s schedule across the men’s singles draw and men’s doubles draw.

[4] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. Dominic Thiem (AUT)

The past two meetings between Tsitsipas and Thiem both came at the Nitto ATP Finals — in the 2019 final, won in a third-set tie-break by Tsitsipas, and the 2020 group stage, when Thiem won in three sets. Thiem leads their overall ATP Head2Head 5-3, with their history including five meetings in 2018.

But the familiar foes have not squared off since their November 2020 meeting in the London season finale. After Thiem beat Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-1 to set up this marquee matchup, the Austrian was excited to renew the rivalry.

“I am looking forward to that one a lot,” he said of their second-round meeting. “I like him a lot. He is an unbelievable player, I like watching his matches. He is very elegant. We’ve had some great matchups.”

Thiem is hoping to build on reaching two quarter-finals in his past three events (Estoril, Munich), while Tsitsipas aims to stay hot after reaching the final last week in Barcelona. The Greek is rounding into form following a post-Australian Open dip in which he did not win more than two matches at four straight tournaments.

“I consider myself a candidate for this tournament in terms of having good results,” Tsitsipas said of his chances in Madrid. “The run I had in Barcelona brought me joy because after the Australian Open I didn’t go deep in tournaments. Now I’ve had a first glimpse of what it is to be strong again. Things are looking pretty bright.”

Both Tsitsipas and Thiem have excelled on clay courts throughout their careers, with Tsitsipas winning three titles on the surface to Thiem’s 10. At their best, both can win with consistency or power from the baseline behind heavy ground strokes. A key tactical component to this match will be how often Tsitsipas uses his all-court game to attack the net, and how well Thiem can fend off those approaches with his trademark, vicious passing shots.

[2] Daniil Medvedev vs. Andrea Vavassori (ITA)

Daniil Medvedev entered the European clay swing as the hottest player on the ATP Tour, winning four of five tournaments — including his maiden title in Miami — and reaching the final in Indian Wells. While his run of consecutive finals came to an end in Monte-Carlo, Medvedev picked up two quality wins against Lorenzo Sonego and Alexander Zverev before falling to eventual finalist Holger Rune.

He again opens opposite an Italian this week in Andrea Vavassori, who beat Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6(7) on Thursday. The 27-year-old qualified for the Madrid main draw after reaching the quarter-finals or better at four straight ATP Challenger Tour events coming into the week.

After beating Murray to mark his ATP Masters 1000 main-draw debut, the Italian will hope his four matches on the Madrid clay serve him in good stead against Medvedev, who is competing in the Spanish capital for the first time since 2021.

Medvedev has just one match win in three Madrid appearances, but feels the unique conditions at the event give him a good chance of success this week.

“It’s definitely different. I would say it’s a little bit like Roland Garros clay where it’s kind of on a harder surface,” Medvedev said of the surface. “Also altitude, so the balls are flying. What I see from results of many people, I should be able to actually play better here than other clay court tournaments. So far, I was not able to do it. But every year is a new opportunity. This year is another one, and I’m going to try to just play my best and hopefully play some good tennis.”

[8] Taylor Fritz vs. Christopher O’Connell (AUS)

Fritz has also flashed his clay-court credentials this season, reaching consecutive semi-finals in Monte-Carlo and Munich. He picked up his first Top 10 win on the surface by beating two-time defending champion Tsitsipas in the Monte-Carlo quarters, becoming the first American man to reach the Monaco semi-finals in 20 years.

Australia’s Christopher O’Connell also enters Madrid on the back of two straight semi-finals, the first in Split on the ATP Challenger Tour and the second last week in Munich.

Both competitors have been in some of the best form of their careers this season. Fritz reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 5 in February, becoming the first American to hit the mark since Andy Roddick, while O’Connell reached a career high of World No. 78 last November and currently sits three points shy of that mark.

Also In Action…

In addition to the Fritz vs. O’Connell matchup, two more ATP contests will feature on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. Auger-Aliassime will open his campaign against Dusan Lajovic, with the seventh seed seeking his first win in three tries against the Serbian, who last week defeated Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev en route to the Banja Luka title. Later in the day on Madrid’s second stage, Shapovalov will face China’s Zhang Zhizhen for the first time.

On Stadium 3, ninth seed Frances Tiafoe meets Tomas Martin Etcheverry and 11th seed Cameron Norrie faces Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki. Tiafoe and Paul were doubles opponents on Friday, with Tiafoe and Fritz beating Norrie and Tommy Paul in a Match Tie-break.

All three of the top doubles seeds will see their first action on Friday as well. Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski face Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury meet Jamie Murray and Michael Venus, and third seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek take on Simone Bolelli and Fabrice Martin.

Alexander Zverev completed a stunning turnaround at the Mutua Madrid Open late Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday morning to continue his history of success at the ATP Masters 1000.

The 13th-seeded German pulled away late in a 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-0 victory against home favourite Roberto Carballes Baena, winning eight straight games to survive a stern opening test. Spain’s Carballes Baena led 4-3, 30/0 in the second set but lost 10 of the last 11 games as Zverev found a new level late on.

“[It was a] very important match for me, especially after the struggles in three-set matches this year,” the German said after leaving the court. “I think it was one or two points that decided the match and I’m obviously very happy with how it went.”

Zverev, who took a medical timeout for treatment on his left leg midway through the opening set, has dropped seven places to No. 23 this week in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings after losing the points he earned from reaching last year’s Madrid final. Champion at the event in 2018 an 2021, he has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his previous five appearances in the Spanish capital.

He will next face French qualifier Hugo Grenier, a 7-6(5), 7-6(7) winner against Sebastian Korda earlier on Friday. The winner of that match will face either Carlos Alcaraz or Grigor Dimitrov in the last 16.

“I’m just looking forward to being back, playing these kind of matches, playing in the bigger stadiums,” Zverev added. “Especially here, I’ve said it before, this is my absolute favourite court in the whole world. We’ll see how it goes.”

Carballes Baena claimed the opening set against Zverev despite failing to convert on seven break chances. He troubled Zverev with depth and width, and moved within two games of victory when a majestic, flicked winner off his opponent’s overhead clinched the first break of the match.

But Zverev disrupted the pattern of the match to that point to to turn the match around in the nick of time. Finding more purchase off his backhand wing and attacking the net with repeated success, the German flipped the match on its head to run away with victory.

With nearly three hours on the clock after the second set, the matchup seemed destined to break the record for longest best-of-three-set contest in 2023. But Zverev raced through the final set to close out the match in three hours, 25 minutes — that time falling shy of the three hours, 31 minutes of play in Hubert Hurkacz’s second-round win against Thanasi Kokkinakis in the Miami second round.

Holger Rune fought off a brilliant serving display from Alexander Bublik to continue his impressive start to the clay season on Friday and make a winning debut at the Mutua Madrid Open. The Dane opened his campaign at the ATP Masters 1000 with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(9) victory, converting on his fifth match point to claim his second final-set tie-break in as many matches.

Rune saved a match point at 7/8 in the tie-break and clinched victory with a second-serve ace after Bublik missed when going for a big second serve at 9/9. He also saved four match points against Botic van de Zandschulp in Sunday’s Munich final.

“Honestly I’m out of words right now. It was such a tough match,” Rune said after the gutsy win in Madrid. “In these kind of conditions, it’s altitude, it’s very fast compared to what I’ve played so far.

“Bublik, we all know how he’s playing. He’s playing super aggressive, taking the ball aggressive and early. So I had to really dig deep and find solutions. I was brave at the end and that’s what made the difference.”

The result extended Rune’s winning streak to five matches after his successful Munich title defence last week; the 19-year-old (who turns 20 on Saturday) is 8-1 on clay this month dating back to his run to the Monte-Carlo final. His Monte-Carlo success lifted him to a career high of No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, a position he has maintained since then.

After improving to 9-1 in opening matches this season, he will next face 29th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who beat fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4 earlier on Friday.

After using his all-court game to dominate the opening set, Rune was dragged into a big-serving shootout with the Kazakh. There was just one break point across the final two sets, with Bublik taking it early in second set.

“I just had to focus on myself, try to do everything I can because when he puts those serves in, it’s just too good sometimes,” Rune said after scoring his first ATP Head2Head win against Bublik.

Short points were the standard for much of the match, but two highlight-reel exchanges came in the final game as Bublik held to force a decisive tie-break. After Rune showcased his touch with a devilish drop shot in reply to a drop shot from his opponent, Bublik won a 23-ball rally on game point, following another drop shot with a volleyed lob to leave the Dane stranded.

Rune nearly wrapped up the tie-break on his second match point at 6/5, but was denied by a brilliant pickup volley. A few points after erasing Bublik’s match point with a big serve, forehand and overhead, the Dane used a kick serve out wide on the ad-court to seal the win. He finished with 34 winners and 12 unforced errors in the two-hour, four-minute match.

With his defeat, Bublik drops to 5-15 on the 2023 season – though his performances in two Madrid three-setters will give him belief for the rest of the clay-court season.

“One, two, three…”

After a coin toss gone awry, Andrey Rublev and Stan Wawrinka found a fun way to replace the pre-match ritual and decide who would call the first serve in their Mutua Madrid Open second-round match on Friday afternoon.

Rublev suggested a game of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ at the net on Manolo Santana Stadium after confusion about the options on the electronically generated coin toss. With ATP Chair Umpire Mohamed Lahyani laughing along with the players, Wawrinka’s ‘Scissors’ cut through Rublev’s ‘Paper’ and the Swiss star opted to serve.

Rublev recovered from his ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ defeat in style. The World No. 6, who is chasing his second ATP Masters 1000 title after his triumph in Monte-Carlo 12 days ago, went on to defeat Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4.