Monday at the Dubai Tennis Championships was all about redemption for two seeded players in the draw.
Third seed Roberto Bautista Agut entered this week in search of a win after crashing out in the opening round of his two previous tournaments. Taking on Germany’s Florian Mayer, he managed to end his run of loses with a 6-3, 6-4, triumph. It was a far from straightforward encounter for the Spaniard, who dropped his serve three times as he converted five out of his 12 break point opportunities to progress into the next round.
“I felt great on the court,” said Bautista Agut, who will next take on Paul-Henri Herber or Joao Sousa. “He was mixing up all his game, and playing very aggressive on the return.
“I think I did a great job. Here the ball flies after a deep return, it wasn’t easy to hold.
“It’s a tough switch from indoors to outdoors. It was good for me to have three days of practise before this match.”
Another player relieved to grab a win at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre is Philipp Kohlschreiber. The German sixth seed has only won one out of five matches played this season prior to this week. He managed to grab his second with a 6-4, 6-2, win over French qualifier Gleb Sakharov.
“I’m happy with my performance today, I raised my game at the important moments,” he said.
“In the first match, you always adjust a little bit. But I felt comfortable in my game, very solid, moved my opponent well and served well.
“Overall I think it was a good match.”
Awaiting Kohlschiber in the last 16 is Next Gen star Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Greek world No.82 outlasted Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, in an encounter lasting more than two hours. Despite the close clash, Tsitsipas was not broken throughout the entire match. His reward is a first main draw win in an ATP 500 tournament.
First ATP 500 level win for @StefTsitsipas at #DDFTennis #AdvantageDubai pic.twitter.com/6E9l7ijhRy
— Dubai Tennis Champs (@DDFTennis) 26 February 2018
Elsewhere at the tournament, a temperamental Benoit Paire fought back from a set down to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. The Frenchman recently withdrew from the Rotterdam Open due to a back injury. Wild card entrant Marcos Baghdatis managed to roll back the years by dismissing Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-2. Finally, Robin Haase rallied his way past Quentin Halys 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Haase is now on course to play top seed Grigor Dimitrov, if he wins his opening match against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri.
