Fritz stays perfect vs. Baez; Zverev also through to Madrid fourth round

Taylor Fritz continued to dominate his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Sebastian Baez with an emphatic win on Sunday at the Mutua Madrid Open. With a 6-2, 6-3 result, the 12th seed improved to 5-0 against the Argentine, with each victory coming in straight sets.

After four previous meetings at hard-court ATP Masters 1000s, including this year in Indian Wells, Fritz remained in control on the Spanish clay. The American did not face a break point in the match, winning 85 per cent of his first-serve points, and he converted on three of his seven break chances, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

One week after reaching the Munich final on clay, Fritz is through to the Madrid fourth round for the second straight year, matching his best result at the event. He will bid for his first quarter-final appearance when he takes on eighth seed Hubert Hurkacz on Tuesday.

"I think there's more variety in my game in general," Fritz said of his recent clay success. "In my last match in the second round [against Luciano Darderi], that was really on display. I was drop-shotting, I was moon-balling, I was doing a bit of everything. I feel like I've had that, I just never really used it as much.

"On hard court I feel like I have better shots I can hit on those situations, but on clay it works quite a bit."

Fritz in form 🇺🇸

Munich finalist @Taylor_Fritz97 defeats Baez 6-2, 6-3 🔜 R4!@MutuaMadridOpen | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/V1kVrmpKQ4

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 28, 2024

After earning his first clay win against a Top 20 player in the PIF ATP Rankings since defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, Fritz is now 5-3 against the Top 20 this season.

Baez, who leads the ATP Tour in clay wins this season (15-4), was bidding for his third Top 20 victory and his first since 2023. Entering the event at a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 19, he was seeking to advance to the Madrid fourth round for the first time in his second appearance at the ATP Masters 1000.

Alexander Zverev closed Sunday's play with a 6-4, 7-5 win against Denis Shapovalov, extending his Lexus ATP Head2Head advantage to 6-3 against the Canadian. Shapovalov mixed up his play early on with a heavy dose of drop shots, but the big-hitting Zverev converted on his fifth break point of the opening set to take control on Court Manolo Santana.

"Here I'm extremely far back on the return, this is a clay court, especially with altitude. This is where I feel the most comfortable," said the two-time Madrid champion. "In the beginning he did play a lot of drop shots. I don't think he was as successful as he would have hoped maybe, so he stopped doing that in the second set and started hitting the ball much cleaner. It got difficult in the end but I'm happy to be through."

The German did not face a break point until he was broken in his attempt to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, with Shapovalov chasing down a net cord and conjuring a brilliant drop shot to level the set. After re-establishing his advantage with a break to love, Zverev fought off another break point in the final game of the match before advancing to the Madrid last 16 for the seventh time in seven appearances.

The No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings is now 17-0 against lefties since Roland Garros last season — a success rate Zverev attributed to his growing up playing with lefty brother Mischa Zverev. Shapovalov was bidding to reach the last 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 for the first time since Cincinnati in 2022.

Francisco Cerundolo picked up his first Top 20 win of the season with a 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2 win against 15th seed Tommy Paul earlier on Sunday. The Argentine, who earned his maiden Madrid win against Fabian Marozsan in the second round, will next meet Zverev.

Cerundolo now leads Paul 3-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, with each of the five matches requiring a decisive third set.

"We know each other really well, we get along a lot because he has an Argentinean team," Cerundolo said of the American. "So we know each other a lot, we practise a lot. Maybe that is something that makes us play good tennis every match."

The No. 22 in the PIF ATP Rankings needed two hours, 27 minutes to complete his comeback. After failing to serve out the opening set at 6-5 and missing out on a set point at 6/5 in the tie-break, he won the second set without facing a break point and saved five break points in first game of the final set.

Paul was seeking back-to-back ATP Tour wins on clay for the first time since 2021 in Parma and was also bidding for his first Top 30 win on the surface.