Roberto Bautista-Agut downs Gerard Granollers-Pujol in the first round – Rai Open 2012 CH
World number 149, Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain, survived the scare in the first set to beat compatriot, Gerard Granollers-Pujol, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the first round at the Rai Open in Rome, Italy on Tuesday.
Granollers-Pujol made a stunning start, as he made breakthroughs in the first and third game, grabbing a 4-0 lead. Bautista-Agut got one back in the sixth but could not equalise, losing it 4-6.
The 23-year-old, Granollers-Pujol, banged in one ace and 68 percent of the first deliveries, winning 16 of the 23 points on them. In comparison, Bautista-Agut was not that impressive on the serve, as he did not hit any ace and
committed one double fault. The Spaniard put in just 63 percent of the first delivers, converting nine of the 19 of them into points. However, he was too good on the second returns, as he won eight of the 11 points in the opener.
Bautista-Agut and Granollers-Pujol exchanged two breaks of serve in the first six games of the second set, levelling the score at 3-3. They held their serve in the next five to take the score to 6-5 in favour of Bautista-Agut.
He struck in the following game and bagged it 7-5.
The right-hander, Bautista-Agut, gave almost the same level of performance on the serve, as he delivered just 66 percent of the first deliveries, pocketing 14 of the 21 points on them. The Spaniard avoided two of the four break
threats he faced and utilised three of the 14 chances he got in the second set.
Bautista-Agut hit a blow to his opponent in the fourth game of the decider to attain a 3-1 lead but Granollers-Pujol responded immediately to reduce it to 2-3. However, Bautista-Agut did not lose even a single game after that,
snatching three in a row to triumph 6-2.
He won most of the points on the replies to his opponent’s serve, as he claimed 10 of the 20 first and six of the nine second return points in the final set.
The Spaniard required two hours and 32 minutes to claim victory after a marathon match.
Bautista-Agut will take on Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the second round.
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