Roberto Bautista Agut has risen to the New York night session challenge in heavy humidity to quash any threat of a Nick Kyrgios upset in straight sets in the opening round of the US Open. The 18th-seeded Spaniard was rock solid throughout as he posted a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 victory in one hour and 48 minutes.
The 33-year-old, who reached the fourth round in 2014 and 2015, improved his record at Flushing Meadows to 15-8 and his ATP Head2Head ledger to 2-1 against the Australian. Bautista Agut handled the stifling conditions the better of the two and showed great wheels to foil many of the Australian’s attempted winners on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
He hit just 14 unforced errors to his opponent’s 36 and only four less winner’s than Kyrgios’ 37. The Spaniard was far more effective on serve as he won 80 per cent of first-serve points and 53 per cent on second serves. He was a perfect 12 from 12 on net points and fended off the sole break point he faced.
Kyrgios showed impressive net skills when he kept the second set alive with a serve-volley winner for 4-5 but it ended up the last game he would win for the match. The Spaniard closed out a two-set lead with his 12th ace and when he broke immediately at the beginning of the third set it opened the floodgates.
He reeled off the final seven games and sealed the result on his 13th ace. Victory set a meeting with last week’s Winston-Salem Open semi-finalist, Emil Ruusuvuori, for a place in the third round.
It will be the World No. 21’s first ATP Head2Head meeting with the 22-year-old from Finland. Ruusuvuori earlier posted a 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak to match his second-round showing on debut at last year’s US Open.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/2UZY8xM
No comments:
Post a Comment