Bautista Agut Gives Spain Early ATP Cup Final Lead

Roberto The Reliable. Roberto Bautista Agut won his sixth consecutive match at the ATP Cup on Sunday, placing Spain one match victory away from the inaugural ATP Cup title in Sydney.

The World No. 10 and Spain’s No. 2 beat Dusan Lajovic 7-5, 6-1, breaking the Serbian five times and proving too steady from the baseline for the 29-year-old, who had been 4-1 at the season’s first tournament.

“Dusan is playing at a great level but I played a very good match from my side,” Bautista Agut said. “He was aggressive and stepping inside the baseline to manage the game, but I believed I could change it and I played a great end of the first set and a great second set.”

Bautista Agut broke and jumped to a 3-0 lead, baiting Lajovic in side-to-side rallies. But the Serbian began injecting more pace into his forehand and dictating whenever the opportunity arose. He broke back in the fifth game, cuing the trumpets and flag waving from the overwhelmingly pro-Serbia crowd.

Bautista Agut, however, broke Lajovic in the 12^th game to claim the opener. The Spaniard’s consistent deep groundstrokes and inside-out forehand troubled Lajovic as the Serbian sliced a backhand into net on set point.

The Spaniard broke three more times in the second set to improve to 4-0 against Lajovic.

“It’s been a great time. We enjoy a lot playing ATP Cup, being together, practising together, spending time as a team. We have a good chemistry and hopefully we can keep it like this for many more years,” he said.

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Novak Djokovic will play next for an Open Era record 55^th time. Djokovic leads their head-to-head 28-26 (19-7 on hard courts).

The Serbian is 8-0 in matches and 17-0 in sets against Nadal on hard courts since the 2013 US Open final. Twelve months ago, at the 2019 Australian Open, Djokovic gave Nadal his only straight-sets loss in 27 Grand Slam finals.

“We are about to see one of the best matches we can see on a tennis court. Two of the best players in history. I will support Rafa as strong as I can and I believe he can make it and we can get the title here,” Bautista Agut said.