Stefanos Tsitsipas resists Sebastian Baez in the third round in Madrid

Sebastian Baez was a match for Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday. It took three sets and 2h12 of play for the world number 5 to get rid of the 31st in the ATP rankings (7-5, 3-6, 6-3), which gave him a hard time on the clay of the Masters 1000 from Madrid.

The two players relied on their devastating serve to score their points and exchanged the advantage on numerous occasions, without either of them really managing to impose their game. But Tsitsipas, challenged physically, showed enough realism to choose your moments and ensure victory by accelerating during the last rallies.

Already in trouble against Dominic Thiem in the previous round (3-6, 6-1, 7-6 [5]), the Greek was heckled by the 22-year-old Argentinian, just like the last time they met, in 2022, in the second round of the Australian Open (victory for Tsitsipas, 7-6 [1]6-7 [5], 6-3, 6-4). Same scenario and same outcome, because it is indeed the most experienced who will face Tuesday, in the round of 16, the Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles, who defeated Roman Safiullin in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) .