Roberto Bautista Agut downed a tired Lucas Pouille to win his first ever ATP 500 title in Dubai after a 6-3 6-4 victory.
The Spaniard was alert from the very start as he aimed to be as consistent as possible to try and force errors from an erratic Lucas Pouille. On his fourth break point the world number 23 secured a well deserved break for a 3-1 lead in the first set as the Frenchman was struggling to be aggressive at the right moments. Bautista Agut, who had only dropped one set all week, cruised to the first set 6-3 in 35 minutes.
The second set saw a much better start from Pouille, who was playing his third final in his last four tournaments over two continents. The Frenchman struck in the fourth game and grabbed a stunning break of serve for a 3-1 lead in the second set. However the Spaniard had a lot of energy to spend and used it well as he broke the Frenchman straight back.
Eventually Pouille’s reserves would be tested as he struggled to cope with the Spaniard, this showed in the ninth game as he was broken to 15. The Frenchman’s mistake allowed Bautista Agut to successfully serve out the match for the biggest title of his career.
After the match Bautista Agut took time to reflect on one of the biggest weeks of his career, “That means a lot, to win this trophy, I think the past winners [in Dubai] are the best tennis players in the era. That makes me so happy. I played very good, very aggressively and I didn’t give him all the court, all the control of the game. I played very good tennis tonight.”
The Spaniard is the first non top 10 player to win the Dubai title since Fabrice Santoro in 2002. Bautista Agut and Pouille will look to continue their good form into Indian Wells, which starts on the 8th of March.
