Roberto Bautista-Agut: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic my favorites to win AO
Spanish tennis star Roberto Bautista Agut admitted to feeling disappointed after losing to rising Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quarter-final.
No. 14 seed Tsitsipas beat world No. 24 Bautista Agut 7-5 4-6 6-4 7-6 (2) to reach his maiden Grand Slam semi-final.
The Spaniard broke Tsitsipas in the opening game of the match but failed to hold to his serve as the Greek ended up stealing the opener.
Bautista Agut made the most out of the break earned in the third game of the second set but lost the third set after being up by a break.
The Spaniard saved a match point on his serve in the 12th game to force a fourth-set tie-break -- but there stood no chance against the Greek.
"Well, I think it was a close match. Tsitsipas was playing very good. I had my chances in the first set and in the third set. I lost both sets. Maybe (that) was the key or the moment of the match to turn it around. After the break back, he got (his) confidence, he played really good end on the both sets," Bautista Agut said post-match.
"I'm a little bit disappointed because I couldn't confirm both sets, (the) first and third."
No. 22 seed Bautista Agut confirmed that losing the third set after being up by a break probably cost him the win.
"Well, at the third set, no? When I lost the third set, I knew I had to do really good effort to try to win the match, when I lost the third set, two sets to one down," Bautista Agut said.
"Well, I continued fighting till the end, but it was not enough."
Tsitsipas stunned his idol and record 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the round-of-16.
Bautista Agut said that the Greek is a "good and very complete player" but his favorites to win it all Melbourne Park remain world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and second-set Rafael I.
"Well, he's playing (a) very good tennis. Of course, he has a lot of time to improve, a lot of time to get enough experience to be in the finals of these tournaments," Bautista Agut said, when asked if he thinks Tsitsipas has the game to win a tournament like this.
"But here I think Rafa and Novak are my favorites."
Also read: Vasek Pospisil undergoes successful surgical microdisectomy
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2S0VRPr
No comments