Second seed Roberto Bautista Agut has began his campaign at the Chennai Open by brushing aside Rogerio Dutra Da Silva 6-3, 6-2, in the second round.
Agut, who received a first round bye, won 84% of her service points to claim his first win on the ATP tour this season. The opening set saw each player playing consistently, until the sixth game in which the Spaniard took advantage of the first break point of the match, securing a 4-2 lead and then going to a 6-3 win. The second set wasn’t as thrilling as the first one as Bautista Agut broke in the fifth game before storming to the 75-minute victory.
“I felt great on the court, without any match practice,” Agut said.
“It was a little windy. But the conditions are good, the court is good, to play at night,” he added.
Awaiting Agut in the quarterfinals will be Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, who downed Argentina’s Renzo Olivo 6-1, 7-5. The match was played at a very slow pace, and the seventh seed won easily the first set and used his experience to overcome moments of pressure in the second set. This week Youzhny is bidding to win his first ATP title since 2013 and is expected to be a tough test for the Spaniard in the next round.
“He is a former Top 10 player and a tough opponent,” Agut said about facing Youzhny. “But I will make him work on the court and he will have to fight it out if he wants to beat me,” he added.
France’s Benoit Paire saved seven break points during his 6-3, 6-4, win over local favourite Yuki Bhambri. Hitting 12 aces and winning 74% of his first serves, the world No.47 will now play his first ATP tour quarter-final since the Washington Open last July.
“It was a good match, I didn’t concentrate well, but I was moving well which was important for me. That’s why, I am really happy to win this match. It’s good for the confidence,” Paire said.
Paire will next play Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene, who produced a hard-fought 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 7-6(2), triumph over Martin Klizan. The match was made of long and fought baseline rallies with the first set lasting more than an hour. Klizan served for the opening set at the 5-3, but eventually lost in the tie-break. The second set also ended in a tie-break, and it saw, this time, Klizan winning. At the beginning of the third the Brit found himself in front 2-0, but then lost his break advantage and eventually went down 5-4. Bedene, though, managed to find some last drops of energy to force a tiebreak, which he wins thanks to a double fault and a strange chop-forehand by Klizan.
In their head-to-head, Paire currently trails 1-2 to Bedene.
