ATP Tournament in Kitzbühel, Round of 16, Wednesday, 27.07.2022
Whoever emerges at number 3 on the seedings list is one of the top favourites right from the start. Roberto Bautista-Agut wants to finally win again in Kitzbühel and find a way out of his current crisis.
The crowd will probably be against him, because his opponent is a local hero.
On Mallorca Roberto Bautista-Agut was still in the final, losing narrowly in three sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Many had him on the bill for Wimbledon as well, but before his 2nd round the Spaniard had to throw in the towel.
A positive corona test forced him to retire, and there is now speculation as to whether the infection affected him more than he would have liked. Two weeks after his withdrawal in London, Bautista-Agut was competing in Bastad.
He could have saved himself the trip to Sweden because he lost 6-7, 6-3, 4-6 to Dominic Thiem in the first round. Obviously not a flash in the pan, because things did not go well at all in Gstaad either.
This time it was Juan Pablo Varrilas who took the edge off him and won 7-6, 7-5. The veteran was unable to win the close sets, but that should change in Kitzbühel.
A year ago, he celebrated his debut at this tournament, but lost to compatriot Pedro Martinez in three close sets. Bautista-Agut is still in the world’s top 20, but if he continues to play like this, he is likely to slip out soon.
He will now meet Yuri Rodionov for the first time, while Bautista serves with his right hand, his opponent’s strong hand is his left. With odds of 1.25 to 3.90, the favourite is clear to see, but a strong match from the Austrian can obviously still be imagined.
The world number 145 has been in Kitzbühel a few times, but has never made it past the first round. In this respect, he can already be praised a lot, because in 2022 he will finally be allowed to take part in the last 16.
His 6-4, 6-2 against Hernan Casanova also thrilled the crowd. He only allowed his opponent one break chance, which he fended off in the end. Had he not only used three of his ten chances, the match might have been over even earlier.
94% of points won on the first serve, this rate is fantastic. You can’t really expect him to have a strong tournament, because if he has won at all lately, it has been at Challengers or in the qualifiers.
He did win a title in Mauthausen two months ago, but there was no competition on the level of Roberto Bautista-Agut. He won the final outright against Jiri Lehecka.
My Bautista-Agut Rodionov tip
The last few weeks have certainly not been easy for Roberto Bautista-Agut. He travelled to Wimbledon in good form, then a Corona infection forced him to sit out. Most recently, he was eliminated twice in the first round.
This was mainly due to close penalties, which he lost in the end. With Yuri Rudionov, he now has to deal with an opponent who has not been perceived in a positive light for months.
Although the Spaniard is still struggling for the last percentage points, I trust him to break the knot on Wednesday. Since Rodionov seems too weak to me, my tip is:
Bautista-Agut wins outright against Rodionov!
