Roberto Bautista Agut: I was so close to beating Novak Djokovic

Spanish tennis star Roberto Bautista Agut tried to remain positive after suffering a disappointing defeat in the Cincinnati Masters semifinal against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. 

Djokovic, seeded at No. 1, extended his winning streak to 22-0 in 2020 after edging out eighth-seeded Bautista Agut 4-6 6-4 7-6 (0).

Bautista Agut was serving for the match in the 12th game of the third set 17-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic broke back to force a tie-break, which he absolutely dominated. 

Had Bautista Agut stunned Djokovic, he would have played former world No. 3 Milos Raonic in the final.

"I was very close to winning. I served for the match and I was two points away [from winning]," Bautista Agut said after the match, per the ATP website. "[I can be disappointed or] I can take the other way and think that I made a good comeback to the tour-level. I played really good matches this week, and I was serving for the match against the No. 1."

Bautista not happy with roof closing 

The Spaniard suggested the timing of the roof closing wasn't fair at all toward him and he didn't like it all. 

"It's not the 1st time I disagree with Lars Graff. I think it was not great & it was 100% wrong. I lost the toss of the ball with my serve on the 5-4 & I cannot do nothing right now, no? But it's for sure a bad decision from Lars Graff," Bautista Agut said, per Reem Abulleil.

"He broke my rhythm. It was the 3rd time we stop the rhythm in the match. 1 at toilet break & a physio break & then a roof break. So the roof break could wait a little bit to finish the set, because to close the roof, it's 5 minutes. I totally disagree with the decision he took."

Bautista Agut failed to lift his maiden Masters glory at the Cincinnati Masters but he says his focus now switches to the US Open. 

Bautista Agut was drawn to meet American Tennys Sandgren in the US Open first round.

"I take every week, every competition, 100%. I don't take Cincinnati as a preparation as anything. When I started the tournament here, I was focused on Cincinnati, and now I will start to be focused on the next week," Bautista Agut said, per Ravi Ubha.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2EIjCXw