The stage is set at the La Caja Majica for the Top 20 clash in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open! Fresh off a strong run to the Munich final, Taylor Fritz cruised through his opening match in straight sets. While Sebastian Baez enjoyed a successful clay season earlier, he hasn’t been able to maintain that momentum. Despite winning opening sets in both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, he ultimately fell short in both tournaments. Taylor Fritz has consistently dominated Sebastian Baez in their past meetings, can he carry forward the momentum in Madrid?

Taylor Fritz vs Sebastian Baez: Preview

After missing out by a close margin in Munich, Taylor Fritz will now look to put his best foot forward in Madrid and make a deep run into the tournament. He defeated Italy’s Luciano Darderi in his previous match by a 7-6(1),6-4 margin. Taylor Fritz’s serves are one of his lethal weapons and he managed to hit nine of them in his previous match without committing a single double fault. His first-serve win percentage was 87% while it dropped a little (63%) in the second serve against the Italian. However, he managed to convert only two of his six breakpoints in the entire match.

Sebastian Baez, on the other hand, took three sets to defeat France’s Luca Van Assche in his previous match. He struggled a bit in the second set against the Frenchman. But eventually pulled up his strings in the third set. Baez could only manage to hit three aces in the entire game against Assche. But didn’t commit any double faults in that match. His first serve win percentage was 67% while it got down to 56% on the second serve. The Argentinian successfully converted five of his fifteen double faults in the entire match.

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Fritz vs Baez: Head-to-Head

Talking about numbers, well this is something which Sebastian Baez wouldn’t love looking at before entering in this intriguing faceoff. Both tennis stars have met each other four times in their career so far. But currently, Taylor Fritz holds a 4-0 lead over the Argentinian in the H2H. They had first met each other at the Cincinnati Masters in 2022 and then a year later they met twice. First at the Indian Wells where Fritz defeated Baez by 6-1,6-2, followed by yet another two-set triumph by the American in Paris.

However, their latest meeting came this year at the Indian Wells. In that match, Taylor Fritz defeated Sebastian Baez by 6-2,6-2 in the R32. The most eye-catching statistics from that match were the number of aces hit by the players in that intriguing encounter. Fritz had fired nine aces against the Argentinian, but his opponent failed to hit a single ace throughout the game. Taylor Fritz had a first serve win percentage of 88% in that match compared to only 47% of Sebastian Baez. Even on the second serves, Fritz was way ahead of the Argentinian tennis star.

Prediction: Taylor Fritz will ace the aces to continue his winning streak over Sebastian Baez

Taylor Fritz has reached the R16 in Madrid in the 2023 season while Sebastian Baez could only manage to make it to the R32. Fritz has a win-loss record of 15-7 this season compared to 17-9 of Baez. Both of them have some fond memories of clay courts from their junior careers. In 2015, Fritz reached at least the quarterfinal of all four junior Grand Slam tournaments, including the final at the French Open. While Baez was the runner-up in the 2018 French Open Boys’ singles finals.

Fritz’s powerful groundstrokes have the tendency to force errors out of his opponents. Even his forehands and backhands are more than handy to disrupt the game of his opponents at any point of the match. Keeping the focus in the match and remaining calm will be the key for the Argentinian against the American.

While Baez may relish the clay surface, his historical struggles against Fritz (having never won a set) combined with Fritz’s current form make this an uphill battle. The faster conditions in Madrid should further benefit Fritz’s serve-and-volley style, allowing him to control service games and exploit opportunities on Baez’s return. But having said that, don’t be surprised if Baez gives a strong fight this time around in Madrid!