Roberto Bautista-Agut

[Damian]

Elsewhere, fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, a semi-finalist in each of the past three years, was equally impressive on serve in beating qualifier Luca Vanni of Italy 7-5, 6-2 in 81 minutes. The Spaniard will next meet 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, who won the 499th match of his 20-season pro career, 7-6(6), 6-4 against Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Youzhny will retire after this week's tournament.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/fo ... -wednesday

[Damian]

[Damian]

[Lleyton]

[Barty]

Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut defeated home favourite Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 in the final match of the Russian's career, leaving 'The Colonel' with 499 tour-level match wins. Youzhny completes a career that spanned nearly two decades with 10 ATP World Tour titles and more than $14 million in prize money.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/th ... 8-thursday

[Barty]

He will next face fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who overcame a tough opening set to defeat third seed Marco Cecchinato 7-6(0), 6-3. It has been a strong bounceback week for the Spaniard, who arrived in Russia on a three-match tour-level losing streak. Bautista Agut has won all three of his FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Thiem.

"So far I have no idea how to beat him," Thiem said. "He won all three matches, so I have to put up something new. But we practise often together, he’s a really nice guy, so I’m looking forward to facing him in a great semi-final.”

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/wa ... 018-friday

[Damian]

[Lleyton]

[Lleyton]

[Damian]

Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, the 2016 finalist (l. to Murray), knocked out #NextGenATP Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-4 to improve to a 29-17 record on the season, which includes the ASB Classic (d. Del Potro) and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Pouille). Bautista Agut will next face American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victor over Canadian No. 14 seed Milos Raonic. Rublev is currently in seventh position in the ATP Race To Milan for a spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/mo ... 018-monday

[arti]

Elsewhere, eighth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut knocked out Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-4, 6-3 in 89 minutes.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/ts ... -wednesday

[Lleyton]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI2j2Fc ... r4kIJDYNXA[/youtube]

[Lleyton]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgjCBFr ... r4kIJDYNXA[/youtube]

[Barty]

Bautista Agut's compatriot Feliciano Lopez saved two match points to beat #NextGenATP Aussie Alex de Minaur 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(6) in two hours, 58 minutes. The 37-year-old Lopez had two match points in the third set at 5-4, 40/15 on De Minaur's serve, but the Aussie saved them both and had a pair of match points, including one on his racquet, from 6/4 in the third-set tie-break.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/kh ... 018-monday

[Damian]

2018 w liczbach:

Ranking: 24
Bilans meczów: 33-20
Tytuły: 2 (Auckland, Dubaj)
Finały: 1 (Gstaad)
Zarobki: $1,717,622

[Lucas]

Roberto Bautista Agut (245-150) może wkrótce osiągnąć 250 wygranych w tourze

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/federer ... es-in-2019

[Lleyton]

Djokovic Survives Tough Doha Test (Again)

Spoiler:

Berdych into semis in first event back from injury

Novak Djokovic was made to work hard once more at the Qatar Exxon Mobil Open on Thursday as the World No. 1 fought back from a set down for the second day running. Twenty-four hours after a comeback win over Marton Fucsovics, the 2016 and 2017 champion knocked out fifth-seeded Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Djokovic, who clinched year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the fifth time last season, will next challenge seventh-seeded Spaniard Roberto-Bautista Agut for a place in Saturday’s final. Djokovic leads Bautista Agut 7-1 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

"I thought Basilashvili was playing terrific from the beginning. I expected him to," said Djokovic on court of the Georgian, who won his first two ATP Tour titles in 2018, both at ATP 500 events. "I knew that he’s playing probably the tennis of his life in the past 10 months, and he’s definitely one of the greatest hitters in the game."

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Basilashvili made an immediate impact against the Serbian with his aggressive style of play, breaking in the first and fifth games en route to a 4-1 lead, prior to remaining cool under pressure with pinpoint accurate groundstroke winners.

Djokovic regrouped by absorbing the pressure to open up a 3-0 advantage in the second set. And as Basilashvili came close to recovering to 4-5, the Serbian gained the crowds support with scintillating defence. Both players put everything they had into long, punishing rallies at the start of the decider, which was highlighted by back-to-back service breaks. But Djokovic ultimately was too solid for the up-and-down Basilashvili, triumphing after one hour and 56 minutes.

Djokovic has now won 13 consecutive matches in Doha, and is 15-1 overall at the tournament. The World No. 1, owner of 72 tour-level titles, is trying to lift a trophy for the 14th consecutive season, and continue the momentum of his impressive finish to 2018 in which he reached the final in his last five tournaments, winning three of them.

Bautista Agut

Seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut also played with great poise from the baseline on Thursday to outlast 2008 finalist Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4.

"I think Stan is a really good player. He is really a tough opponent to beat and we knew each other very well," Bautista Agut said. "Today I was very consistent and played with a lot of rhythm. I think I did a very complete match."

The Spaniard got off to strong starts by breaking Wawrinka in the first game and clinched the 48-minute opener on his fourth set point chance. He broke immediately at the start of the second set and put Wawrinka under pressure in the fifth and seventh games. At 5-4, Bautista Agut recovered from 15/40 to complete victory in one hour and 45 minutes.

Last year, the Spaniard lifted the biggest title of his career at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Pouille), an ATP 500-level tournament.

On the other half of the draw, Czech wild card Tomas Berdych, competing in his first tournament since the 2018 Fever-Tree Championships, beat Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2, 6-4 in 71 minutes. It is Berdych's first tour-level semi-final since February 2018 in Marseille, and he will play fourth seed Marco Cecchinato or Dusan Lajovic to reach his first championship match since May 2017 in Lyon.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/bautist ... 9-thursday

[Lleyton]

Spaniard earns his second win against Djokovic

Spoiler:

Roberto Bautista Agut crafted the first major upset of the 2019 ATP Tour season, stunning World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 on Friday to reach the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

It took the World No. 24 two hours and 35 minutes to earn his fourth victory against an opponent inside the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings, and his second win against Djokovic. The Serbian entered the match leading Bautista Agut 7-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“I will remember this match all my life. It was an unbelievable atmosphere,” Bautista Agut said on court. “I work every day to play this tennis. I know it’s difficult to play at this level. That’s why Novak is No. 1 in the world. But I cannot be more happy than I am now.”

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Bautista Agut’s upset breaks a streak of five consecutive finals reached by Djokovic, who had also won 13 consecutive matches in Doha.

For the first set and a half it appeared that Djokovic was well on his way to earning his 30th win in his past 32 matches, leading by a set and breaking for 4-3 in the second set. It wasn’t that Bautista Agut was playing poorly, but Djokovic’s all-around game was proving too solid for the seventh seed.

However, the Spaniard upped his aggression, using his flat cross-court groundstrokes to push the top seed back. It almost felt as if Bautista Agut was doing to Djokovic what the Serbian typically does to the rest of the ATP Tour, rarely missing while exerting the utmost pressure on his opponent. Bautista Agut had three set points in the second set before the tie-break, and another at 6/5 in the tie-break. So when he did not manage to convert any of those, it felt as if Djokovic would find a way to close it out. But Bautista Agut stayed the course to force a decider, in which he immediately broke serve and never looked back.

“I wanted to give everything I had in the match and fight until the last point,” Bautista Agut said. “Finally I could turn the second set. Novak was up and it was really tough. He was very solid and I had to play very good tennis. I had to play a lot of lines and serve very well. I did everything well today.”

Bautista Agut will try to lift his ninth ATP Tour trophy on Saturday against fourth seed Marco Cecchinato or wild card Tomas Berdych. This was not his first impressive win of the week, as the 30-year-old ousted former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in straight sets in the quarter-finals. Last year, the Spaniard earned the biggest victory of his career when he came out on top in Dubai, which is an ATP 500 event.

Did You Know?
Bautista Agut's upset comes in just his second match against Djokovic in the quarter-finals or later of a tournament. The only other time they have met towards the end of an event was in Shanghai in 2016, another match won by Bautista Agut.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/bautist ... -doha-2019

[Damian]

[Damian]