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Alejandro Davidovich has done it again. He will never forget this Australian Open, in which he has achieved something very rare in top level tennis, coming back from two sets down in consecutive matches. After Wednesday's feat against Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime (23rd), a four hours and 51 minutes duel, he added another victory on Thursday night, this time against the young Czech Jakub Mensik (48th). Mensik even spurned two match points, one of them on his serve, in an excruciating ending to the third set.
The final result, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 and 6-2, after three hours and 28 minutes on the court, will have brought even more supporters to Davidovich's side. "We lost the first two sets again," joked the Rincón-born tennis star when he was interviewed on court. He didn't even remember having gone through the ordeal of saving two match points. "It's about emotions, about feelings. The fact of winning three matches in a row in Australia means so much to me. It's unbelievable," said Davidovich in front of an enthusiastic crowd at Melbourne´s Kia Arena.
"I tried not to lose my concentration, that tie break was essential," said the Spaniard about the crazy end to the third set, in which there were four consecutive breaks. Mensik was almost always dominating in the tiebreak and had 6-5 and 7-6 in his favour. On the first of the points Davidovich returned the ball to the tape of the Czech, forcing him into a diffucult shot, and in the second he charged towards the net bravely.
"I have been focusing on each point and I felt that I started to serve better. I didn't play well in the first two sets, but I was able to come back" he said. Mensik was almost unplayable in the first two sets, winning 93% of points when his first serve was successful and not offering a single break point to his rival, who displayed his great physical condition to stay in the match.
He only showed one moment of weakness and that was when, during the first break of the second set, he asked for a pill to relieve some pains. Davidovich then looked a little slow in his baseline shots and so was having to save countless break points. These included two games in which he found himself at 0-40, and Mensik, though under pressure, barely struggled to find himself two sets up. He had just defeated the world number five, Casper Ruud, and had beaten his opponent in Dubai last year, when he broke into the top hundred at just 18 years of age. He is an obvious top ten prospect, and with an excellent serve and forehand he has a lot of the skills required to succeed.
The turning point came in the final stretch of the third set. It took an hour and a half for the break points to finally fall in a match that was going very quickly. It happened in the sixth game, when Mensik came out of the doldrums with two impressive serves, but began to look different.
First, he claimed medical assistance on the big toe of his right foot after hurting himself on the turn. He was not frustrated on the court, but his level dropped considerably, perhaps due to fatigue or a lack of confidence. He lost his serve, Davidovich had a set point at 5-3 and did not take it and it came to an exciting tie break. As happened in the fifth set of the duel against Auger-Aliassime on Wednesday, the Spaniard was brave and held firm.
Davidovich saved another 15-40 in the sixth game of the fourth set, upping the tempo for the conclusion of the match. He was aware that he had to cut down on unforced errors and keep the ball in play. Mensik was unrecognisable from the start of the match, winning only 42% of points when his first serve was successful in the final set. It was a collapse, from crusing to victory to slowly losing it.
Davidovich now faces the eleventh seed in Melbourne, the American Tommy Paul, who defeated Roberto Carballés this morning in three sets. The player from Rincón has not fared well against the American with three defeats. These all came in 2023, one in Melbourne, which went to five sets, and the other during the US Open, which Paul won in four.
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