Roberto Bautista Agut

Bautista Agut's first tournament of 2013, in Chennai, saw him reach his first career ATP final. He defeated world No. 6 Tomáš Berdych in the quarterfinals in three sets and faced world No. 9 Janko Tipsarević in the final, to whom he eventually lost after winning the first set. This run saw Bautista Agut reach a career-high singles ranking of world No. 51 in March 2013.

2014: Career breakthrough: First two titles and world no. 14 ranking

Bautista Agut began his 2014 campaign in Auckland, where he made the semifinals of the Heineken Open. He lost to third seed, and eventual champion, John Isner after winning the first set.

Agut then participated in the Australian Open. Roberto began his campaign with a first-round, straight-sets, victory over unseeded American Tim Smyczek. In the second round he would face an epic challenge against the world no. 5 Juan Martín del Potro. He recorded one of the 2014 Australian Open upsets, beating del Potro in a classic five-setter to record his first win in seven matches against a top 10 player.^[3] His campaign ended two rounds later against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, losing in four sets. This was the best Grand Slam performance, of his career to date.

Bautista Agut at the US Open

Agut's surprising performances earned him a call-up to Spain for their clash with Germany in the Davis Cup. Agut lost both of his rubbers to Philipp Kohlschreiber and Daniel Brands. Germany would go on to win the tie 4–1.

In March, Agut participated in the first Masters 1000 event of the year, the Indian Wells Masters. In the second round he would come up against fourth seed, and big serving Czech, Tomáš Berdych. Agut secured his second top 10 win of the year, winning in three sets after losing the first. His tournament ended in the fourth round with a defeat to Ernests Gulbis.

In May, Roberto played in another Masters 1000 tournament which was the Madrid Open. Roberto made it all the way to the tournament's semifinals after beating former top-10 players, Grand Slam semifinalists and current in-form players en route to this stage. In the semifinal, Agut took on world No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Nadal mentioned that Agut is "a really dangerous opponent," and Agut certainly gave Rafa a run for his money. In the end, the world no. 1 was the better player in two sets.^[4] This was Roberto Bautista-Agut's best ever Masters tournament performance.

Roberto then played in the French Open. This was Roberto's first Grand Slam where he was one of the top 32 seeded players, seeded 27th. Roberto beat Paolo Lorenzi, and Frenchman Benoît Paire but he was unable to beat world no. 6 Tomáš Berdych for a second time this year, ending his tournament in the third round after a four-set defeat.

In preparation for Wimbledon, Agut played in the Topshelf Open. He was the tournament's third seed. Agut won the title, his first ATP title, defeating former champion Benjamin Becker in the final in three sets.^[5]

Roberto then played in the Wimbledon Championships. After defeating Steve Johnson and Jan Hernych, Agut took on the defending champion, Andy Murray, in the third round. Agut put up a great fight, but Murray's class on grass was just too difficult to beat. This was his best Wimbledon result.

After Wimbledon, Roberto went back to playing on the clay surface in Germany. Roberto was the third seed in the Mercedes Cup based in Stuttgart. In the semifinal, Agut recorded an upset, beating defending champion Fabio Fognini for only the second time in his career.^[6] This result led Agut to take on Lukáš Rosol in the final. This was Roberto's third professional ATP tournament final. Agut won the final in three sets, claiming his second 250-level title.^[7]

In the last slam of the year, the U.S. Open, Roberto reached the fourth round after defeating Andreas Haider-Maurer, Tim Smyczek, and Adrian Mannarino on the way to taking on the no. 2 seed Roger Federer for the first time. Despite Agut's hard efforts, he could not stop Federer winning points at the net, and he therefore lost in straight sets.^[8] This was Agut's best ever US Open campaign and he equaled his best career Grand Slam result (2014 Australian Open).

Agut would then head off to Russia to play in the Kremlin Cup tournament held in Moscow. Agut advanced all the way to the final where he took on the 2014 US Open champion, Marin Čilić, in the final. His brilliant tournament ended with a tight straight-set defeat.^[9]

After his outstanding season, Agut won the ATP's Most Improved Player award.^[10]

At the end of the best season in his career so far, Agut finished 2014 with a singles ranking of world no. 15, and a doubles ranking of world no. 255.

2015: Drops out of top 20

Agut began his new season, as the third seed, in the 2015 Aircel Chennai Open. Agut progressed to the semi-final where he would lose to British qualifier Aljaž Bedene.

In February, Agut travelled to France to play in the 2015 Open 13 tournament in Marseille. Agut's tournament ended in the semi-final against the entertaining local star, Gaël Monfils.

In April, Agut travelled to the clay surfaced courts of Barcelona to play in the Barcelona Open. Agut made it to the finals stage but lost in the quarter-final in a tight 3-setter against defending champion Kei Nishikori.

Later that month he travelled to Germany to play in the 2015 BMW Open in Munich. Agut made it all the way to the semi-final where he eventually lost to top seed Andy Murray.

One month later, Agut travelled to England to play in the year's third major. Agut was the 20th seed in the Wimbledon Championships. Agut advanced all the way to the fourth round to take on 7-time Wimbledon Champion and tournament second seed Roger Federer, after wins over Ruben Bemelmans, Benoît Paire, and Nikoloz Basilashvili. Unfortunately Agut's tournament ended to the Swiss maestro in straight-sets. Despite the defeat this was Agut's best Wimbledon result and equal best Grand Slam result as he also reached the 4th round in the 2014 US and Australian Opens.

In July, Agut played as the second seed in the 2015 Croatia Open. Agut advanced to the semi-final where he would be defeated by Portuguese player João Sousa.

In September the fourth and final major of the year was held in "the Big Apple". Agut was the 23rd seed in the 2015 US Open. After defeats over Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Pablo Carreño Busta, and David Goffin, Agut had reached the fourth round of a major for a second consecutive time. He took on the World number 1, from Serbia, Novak Djoković. Agut's tournament finished with a four-set defeat.^[11] Despite losing, Agut did manage to repeat his equal best performance in New York for a second consecutive year.

He then played in the St. Petersburg Open where he was the fourth seed. He'd would go on to lose in the semi-finals to second seed Miloš Raonić.

He was the second seed in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. He made the final again and took on the exact opponent from Croatia Marin Čilić and still had no luck this time around losing ironically by exactly the same scoreline - 4–6, 4–6.

He was the seventh seed in the 2015 Valencia Open. With top seeds falling it was a shock draw with Agut being the only seeded player remaining in the draw. Agut made it all the way to the final and in the final Agut was up a set and a break but failed to consolidate, going on to lose the match, which was the story of his 2015 season in tournament decisive matches.^[12]

At the end of 2015, Agut finished outside the top 20 with a ranking of 25.

2016: Two more ATP titles, back into the top 20 and first Masters final

In the 2016 ASB Classic Agut knocked out defending Champion Jiri Vesely, third seeded American John Isner and second seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, his first top ten scalp in two years, on his way to the final where he took on talented American Jack Sock. Roberto was crowned champion after the American retired in the second set.

In the 2016 Australian Open Agut was seeded 24th. After defeating Martin Kližan and Dušan Lajović, Agut took on 12th seed Marin Čilić in the third round. Agut earned his first ever win over Čilić in a shock straight-sets result setting up a match-up with the sixth seed, Tomáš Berdych. After winning five setters in the lead up to this match, Agut didn't come on the right side of this five-setter as he lost a thriller and ended his chances to reach his first ever Grand-Slam Quarter-Final.

After the Australian Open, Agut's first tournament was based in Bulgaria. Agut entered the 2016 Garanti Koza Sofia Open as the number one seed. Agut made it all the way to the final where he took on Serbian second seed Viktor Troicki. Agut would go on to win the inaugural Garanti Koza Sofia Open to win his fourth career title and second in 2016.

In May, Agut played in the year's second major as the 14th seed. Agut reached the fourth round of the 2016 French Open after he defeated Dmitry Tursunov, Paul-Henri Mathieu, and Borna Ćorić. His quest for a place in a Grand-Slam Quarter-Final was again ended by a top ten player, this time world number one, Novak Djoković. This result was his best result at the French Open and equals his best at Grand Slam level.

In early August, Bautista Agut was a member of the Spanish representatives at the International sporting event that occurs every quadrennial year, the Olympic Games. Agut advanced to the quarterfinals in Rio de Janeiro after beating Andrey Kuznetsov, Paolo Lorenzi, and Gilles Müller in the earlier rounds. Agut's quest for an Olympic medal ended after a defeat against the eventual silver-medalist Juan Martín del Potro.

Later that month, Agut reached the final of the Winston-Salem Open to take on fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta. Agut lost the final in three sets.

In the penultimate Masters 1000 event of the year at the 2016 Shanghai Masters, Bautista Agut made it all the way to his first masters 1000 final, defeating Bernard Tomic, who had to retire because of abdominal pain,^[13] qualifier Taylor Fritz, Viktor Troicki, 2015 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals, and top seed and defending champion Novak Djoković in the semifinals. This is the first time he had defeated a world no.1 and the first time he had beaten Djoković in his career. In the final, he lost to Andy Murray in straight sets.

Bautista Agut finished 2016 ranked number 14 in the world.

2017

Agut began his 2017 season in Chennai where he made it all the way to the final. In the final, Agut took on Russian, Daniil Medvedev. Agut went on to beat his opponent in straight sets, securing his fifth career title.

Career Statistics

Head-to-head statistics

Head-to-head record against top 20 players

Agut's win-loss record (32–59, 35%) against players who were ranked world no. 20 or higher at the time is as follows:

*Statistics correct as of 11 February 2017.

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	RBA Rank
2013
1.	Tomáš Berdych	6	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	QF	7–5, 2–6, 6–3	80
2014
2.	Juan Martín del Potro	5	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	2R	4–6, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4, 7–5	62
3.	Tomáš Berdych	5	Indian Wells Masters, Indian Wells, United States	Hard	2R	4–6, 6–2, 6–4	53
2016
4.	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	10	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	SF	3–6, 7–6^(7–3), 6–4	25
5.	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	9	Miami Open, Miami, United States	Hard	3R	2–6, 6–3, 7–6^(7–3)	18
6.	Novak Djoković	1	Shanghai Masters, Shanghai, China	Hard	SF	6−4, 6−4	19
2017
7.	Kei Nishikori	9	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	3R	6–4, 7–6^(7–3), 3–6, 6–3	19

ATP career finals

Singles: 11 (5 titles, 6 runners-up)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–1)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (5–5)

Titles by surface
Hard (3–6)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (1–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	6 January 2013	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Janko Tipsarević	6–3, 1–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	21 June 2014	Topshelf Open, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands	Grass	Benjamin Becker	2–6, 7–6^(7–2), 6–4
Winner	2.	13 July 2014	MercedesCup, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Lukáš Rosol	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	19 October 2014	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Marin Čilić	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	25 October 2015	Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Marin Čilić	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	000000002015-11-01-00001 November 2015	Valencia Open, Valencia, Spain	Hard (i)	João Sousa	6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Winner	3.	000000002016-01-16-000016 January 2016	ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Jack Sock	6–1, 1–0 Ret.
Winner	4.	000000002016-02-07-00007 February 2016	Sofia Open, Sofia, Bulgaria	Hard (i)	Viktor Troicki	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	000000002016-08-27-000027 August 2016	Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, USA	Hard	Pablo Carreno Busta	7–6^(8–6), 6–7^(1–7), 4–6
Runner-up	6.	000000002016-10-16-000016 October 2016	Shanghai Masters, Shanghai, China	Hard	Andy Murray	6−7⁽¹⁻⁷⁾, 1−6
Winner	5.	000000002017-01-08-00008 January 2017	Chennai Open, Chennai, India	Hard	Daniil Medvedev	6–3, 6–4

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 19 (12–7)

Legend (Singles)
Challengers (3–2)
Futures (9–5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	1 July 2007	Spain F24	Clay	Pedro Clar-Rosselló	7–5, 6–3
Winner	2.	5 August 2007	Spain F29	Clay	Pedro Clar-Rosselló	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	12 August 2007	Spain F30	Hard	Tony Holzinger	6–1, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	20 July 2008	Spain F27	Hard	Iñigo Cervantes Huegun	6–4, 5–7, 1–6
Winner	3.	3 August 2008	Spain F29	Clay	Gerard Granollers	6–4, 6–4
Winner	4.	28 September 2008	Spain F36	Hard	James Ward	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	5.	5 October 2008	Spain F37	Hard	Jean-Noël Insausti	6–7^(5–7), 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	15 March 2009	Spain F9	Clay	Albert Ramos	4–6, 4–6
Winner	6.	22 March 2009	Spain F10	Clay	Marc Fornell-Mestres	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	4.	7 June 2009	Spain F19	Clay	José Checa-Calvo	1–6, 4–6
Winner	7.	27 September 2009	Spain F32	Hard	Thomas Schoorel	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	4 October 2009	Spain F33	Hard	Uladzimir Ignatik	1–6, 6–3, 6–7^(3–7)
Winner	8.	31 January 2010	Spain F3	Hard	Sergio Gutiérrez-Ferrol	7–5, 6–2
Winner	9.	14 March 2010	Great Britain F3	Hard (i)	Daniel Smethurst	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	6.	11 July 2010	Pozoblanco Challenger, Spain	Hard	Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo	6–7 ^(6–8), 4–6
Runner-up	7.	29 May 2011	Alessandria Challenger, Italy	Clay	Pablo Carreño-Busta	6–3, 3–6, 5–7
Winner	10.	22 April 2012	Rome Challenger, Italy	Clay	Rui Machado	6–7 ^(7–9), 6–4, 6–3
Winner	11.	29 July 2012	Orbetello Challenger, Italy	Clay	Dušan Lajović	6–3, 6–1
Winner	12.	12 August 2012	Pozoblanco Challenger, Spain	Hard	Arnau Brugués-Davi	6–3, 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Bautista Agut at 2013 Valencia Open 500.

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	Q3	Q1	1R	2R	4R	2R	4R	4R	11–6
French Open	Q2	Q2	Q1	2R	3R	2R	4R	4R	10–5
Wimbledon	Q2	Q3	Q3	2R	3R	4R	3R	4R	10–5
US Open	A	Q1	Q3	2R	4R	4R	3R		9–4
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–1	4–4	10–4	8–4	9–4	9–3	40–20
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	Q1	1R	4R	3R	3R	3R	5–4
Miami Masters	A	A	2R	1R	3R	2R	4R	4R	7–6
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	2R	2R	3R	3R	2R	7–5
Madrid Masters	A	Q1	Q2	A	SF	3R	3R	1R	8–4
Rome Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	2R	3R	4–4
Canada Masters	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	A	QF	4–3
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R		2–3
Shanghai Masters	A	A	A	Q1	3R	2R	F		8–3
Paris Masters	Q1	A	1R	Q2	3R	2R	2R		2–4
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	14–9	10–9	12–8	9–5	50–37
Career statistics
Titles–Finals	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–2	2–2	1–0	5–6
Year End Ranking	170	178	80	58	15	25	14

Personal life

Roberto's nickname is “Bati”. His father, Joaquín, is a former football player and a current banker; mother, Ester, owns a clothing store. Bautista-Agut started playing tennis at the age of five when his mother signed him up to play on the weekends. His favourite shot is his forehand. His idols growing up were Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer.

Beyond tennis, he enjoys horseback riding (he owns two horses) and playing various sports, mainly football. He supports Villarreal C.F. and CD Castellón. He played football for Villarreal C.F. until he was 14 when he decided to focus on his tennis career.

References

1 2 3 4 "Roberto Bautista Agut". Association of Tennis Professionals. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
↑ "Roberto Bautista Agut | Overview | ATP World Tour | Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
↑ "Australian Open: Juan Martín del Potro knocked out by Roberto Bautista Agut". theguardian. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
↑ "Mutua Madrid Open: Nadal finds Nishikori in the final". ubitennis. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
↑ "Bautista Agut, Vandeweghe win". sportinglife. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
↑ "News; Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "ATP Mercedes Cup: Roberto Bautista Agut beats Lukas Rosol to lift title". Sky Sports. 13 July 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "News; Tennis". ATP World Tour. September 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "News; Tennis". ATP World Tour. October 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ ATP World Tour (2014). "News; Tennis". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
↑ "Djokovic Sees Off Bautista Agut". ATP World Tour. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
↑ "Joao Sousa triumphs at Valencia Open’s last edition". Tennis Tourtalk. 1 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
↑ "Shanghai Masters 2016: Season in doubt as Tomic retires early again". SMH. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2017.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roberto Bautista.

Awards
Preceded by Pablo Carreño Busta	ATP Most Improved Player 2014	Succeeded by Chung Hyeon

Association of Tennis Professionals: Top ten Spanish male singles tennis players as of 31 July 2017
1. Rafael Nadal (2 ) 2. Pablo Carreño Busta (15 ) 3. Roberto Bautista Agut (16 2) 4. Albert Ramos Viñolas (23 1) 5. Feliciano López (28 1)
6. David Ferrer (33 ) 7. Fernando Verdasco (38 1) 8. Nicolás Almagro (79 1) 9. Marcel Granollers (101 5) 10. Guillermo García López (29 2)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.