Marcel Granollers outplays Roberto Bautista-Agut to reach last four – Tunis Open 2012 CH
Top seed Marcel Granollers of Spain faced limited resistance in beating countryman, Roberto Bautista-Agut, in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the quarter-final at the Tunis Open on Friday. The Spaniard required an hour and 43 minutes
to down Bautista-Agut in an evenly contested match.
Granollers took lead from the beginning of the match, as he broke his opponent in the very first game and consolidated on it to move ahead 2-0. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, Bautista-Agut was unable to win his serve and lost
it 3-6.
The 6ft 3in tall, Granollers, took the charge with his accurate serves, putting 78 percent on target and incredibly converting 13 of the 14 of them into points in the opener. He dropped just one point on the second ones, winning
three of the four points on them. The Spaniard did not provide his compatriot any chance to break and availed two of the three of his own.
Bautista-Agut was the first to take lead in the second set, breaking Granollers in the opening game and holding his following serve to attain a 2-0 advantage. However, he could not sustain it for too long, losing two in a row to
even out the score at 2-2. The next six games went with the serve, levelling it at 5-5. At that moment, Granollers showed his true class, as he grabbed two consecutively without dropping even a single point and sealed it 7-5.
The right-hander, Granollers, smacked one ace and 63 percent of the first serves, clinching 18 of the 25 points on them. On the other hand, Bautista-Agut had the same percentage of first deliveries but he managed to bag points
on just 13 of the 24 of them. The 24-year-old failed to convert five of the six break points he received and could not save the two he faced in the second set.
Ranked 27th in the world, Granollers decided to play at this challenger event instead of ATP World Tour 250 event in Serbia, where he could have been the top seed. The reason behind this decision could be the fact that
he had failed to win even a single match in the last three tour level tournaments. In his latest event, Granollers was thrashed by the then world number 117, Frederico Gil, in straight sets 2-6, 2-6 in the opening round at Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
The Spaniard is drawn to meet fourth seed, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, in the semi-final.
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