ATP Tournament in Mallorca, Final, Saturday, 25.06.2022
One last time, tennis fans are in for a weekend with two finals before it finally gets down to business at Wimbledon. In Mallorca, the top-seeded player has made it to the final.
He will meet a Spaniard who has rediscovered his strength on grass. I explain why I would also place my bet on this in my Bautista Agut Tsitsipas tip!
Stefanos Tsitsipas has been considered the top favourite in Mallorca from the very beginning, and now he has to confirm this role. However, the Greek has not made it to the final without some effort, in keeping with his season on grass so far.
He already tried his luck in Stuttgart and Halle, but in each case the second match was the final stop. Especially in Halle, bad luck was on his side, because Nick Kyrgios simply had a great day.
On Mallorca, Tsitsipas was by all means the luckier one from time to time. He started his tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ilya Ivashka and then fought his way to a close 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over Marcos Giron.
Two close results, and Tsitsipas was expecting anything but a walkover in the semi-finals against Benjamin Bonzi. In the end, he prevailed again 6-4, 6-4, but a really convincing success has not yet been achieved.
The world No. 6 did not break either against Bonzi or Ivashka, so he can hardly be stopped on his own serve. Moreover, the semi-final was the first round in which he did not double-fault.
It seems as if Tsitsipas has improved a little from match to match. Will he be ready for the title on Saturday? At least he brings a positive record against Roberto Bautista Agut, leading 2:0 in the direct comparison.
At the 2019 Australian Open, a damn close match ended 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 for Tsitsipas, and two years later he took an equally close 7-5, 7-5. German bettors can well imagine a similar outcome on Saturday.
2.30 to 1.60 on average, Bautista Agut could feel the less pressure as the underdog. The 2019 Wimbledon semi-finalist seems to be finally approaching his best form on grass.
In Halle, he had still failed in the quarter-finals against Daniil Medvedev, but in Mallorca he did much better. But from the beginning. He started with a 6-4, 7-6 against Taro Daniel, leaving a lot of room for improvement.
A little later, many had already expected his elimination against Nick Kyrgios, when the Australian had to cancel the duel due to injury. And then Bautista Agut faced Daniil Medvedev again.
This time it worked better, the Spaniard won 6-3, 6-2. A strong performance, which also benefited somewhat from the fact that Medvedev was/is not in form at all. In the semi-finals, the big sensation Antoine Bellier was waiting.
The qualifier, number 303 in the world, kept up well in the first set, Bautista Agut at least managed to win the tiebreak. In the second set, his experience prevailed, the 6-2 underlined the stable form.
My Bautista Agut Tsitsipas Tip
Stefanos Tsitsipas will be looking to do much better at Wimbledon 2022 after two straight embarrassments. Even if all his results in Mallorca were close.
Roberto Bautista Agut has had the slightly better results, including beating Daniil Medvedev outright. When it comes down to it, however, Tsitsipas is almost always on the spot. Since he has also won both direct duels against the Spaniard, I’m betting:
Tsitsipas beats Bautista Agut!
