Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain
Former champions Roberto Bautista Agut and Richard Gasquet advanced at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open after posting contrasting victories at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex, yesterday.
Also on the opening day of ATP 250 tournament, Russia’s Aslan Karatsev entered the second round on his return to the venue where he began his phenomenal Australian Open campaign in January.
Bautista Agut, who won the Falcon Trophy two years ago, had to stretch for his 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over a spirited American in Reilly Opelka. The Spaniard braved 22 aces from the 6-feet-11-inch tall opponent, wrapping up a hard-fought win in 2 hour 4 minutes.
“I have a lot of good memories in Doha from 2019 and I am happy to be here. Opelka played amazing shots at 3-3 and I just thought in that moment that I have to fight hard. I am very happy that I handled the pressure well. I will have to recover for the next match, which is also against a tough opponent,” said Bautista Agut.
The fifth seed Spaniard will take on wild card Alexander Bublik in the second round, with the Kazakhstani defeating Indian qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in 73 minutes.
Earlier yesterday, Gasquet, the 2013 champion in Doha, set up a second round clash with defending champion Andrey Rublev after a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 victory over Slovenian qualifier Blaz Rola in 1 hour 15 minutes.
The Frenchman said he will go with ‘nothing-to-lose-approach’ against the third-seeded Russian, who extended his winning run at ATP 500 events to 20 matches on Sunday, defeating Marton Fucsovics for ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title.
He’s (Rublev) is playing great tennis. He won four 500s, so I know it will be tough for me. But I have nothing to lose, as I said. I’m sure I can do a great match and try to play the best I can, and then we will see what will happen on the court,” Gasquet, 34, said.
Earlier yesterday, Karatsev, who won three qualifying matches of the Australian Open here two months ago before reaching the semi-final of the Grand Slam, continued his fine form in Doha court to beat Qatari wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid 6-4, 6-0 in 65 minutes.
The Russian blasted 24 of 27 first-service points against the Qatari to book second round match with top seed and World No.4 Dominic Thiem.
In other match yesterday, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili rallied from a set down to beat John Millman of Australia 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour and 52 minutes. The World No.42 will meet wild card Malek Jaziri of Tunisia or Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos as the pair will square off today.
American Taylor Fritz also entered the next stage with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
