Madrid Open 2024: Taylor Fritz vs Sebastian Baez; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction

The stage is set at the La Caja Majica for the Top 20 clash in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open! America’s Taylor Fritz takes on Argentina’s Sebastian Baez for the second time this year. It has been a one-sided battle in their previous encounters, but who will have the last laugh this time around in Madrid? Taylor Fritz has had an incredible year so far. He started his season with a QF run at the 2024 AO. And then he clinched a title at the Delray Beach Open by defeating his compatriot Tommy Paul by 6-2,6-3 in the finals.

After that, he looked pretty ordinary in the rest of the tournaments, but he reached the finals of the Bavarian International just before taking his flight to Madrid. Can he carry forward the momentum in Madrid? Sebastian Baez on the other hand, has already won two titles on clay courts this season. He will be looking forward to putting a tough challenge ahead of the American in the Madrid clash.

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.

Looking at his overall record for this season, Taylor Fritz has hit a staggering 208 aces this season while committing only 27 double faults so far. He has won 86% of his service games this season, so surely his serves will be that one key element in this game which he would like to bank on.

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. However, against Fritz, he needs to fully capitalize on every chance that comes his way and make use of the conditions to bring his A-game against the American. 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. How many can he convert in his next match? Well, looking at his record for this season, Sebastian Baez has hit fifty-six aces but has committed forty-five double faults this year. Surely, his numbers with serves aren’t that impressive as compared to Taylor Fritz. But Baez has managed to win 74% of his service games so far in 2024. Can he improve his number with a win against Taylor Fritz?

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. And then it was followed by yet another two-set triumph by the American in Paris in the same year.

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 and clinch his fifth win 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. Fritz reached the finals of the junior singles of the French Open in 2015. 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. But if we look at the results of their previous encounters and the way Taylor Fritz has dominated the matches, the number 13 will get the upper hand over the number 19. But having said that, don’t be surprised if Baez gives a strong fight this time around in Madrid!