Bautista Agut, Pella Move Into Munich Quarter-finals

Roberto Bautista Agut is one win away from reaching the BMW Open by FWU semi-finals for the third time (2015, 2017) in the past five years after he beat German wild card Rudolf Molleker in Munich on Thursday. The fourth-seeded Spaniard, who picked up his ninth ATP Tour title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open (d. Berdych) in the first week of 2019, recovered from 2-4 down in the first set and won 27 of 31 first-service points to defeat Molleker 6-4, 6-2 in 77 minutes.

He will next play seventh-seeded Argentine Guido Pella, the Brasil Open champion (d. Garin) in February, who worked his way past Taro Daniel of Japan 6-1, 6-7(7), 6-3 in two hours and 19 minutes for a place in his fourth ATP Tour quarter-final of the season. Pella led by a set and 5-3, but could not convert a match point at 6/5 in the tie-break before No. 72-ranked Daniel forced a decider. Bautista Agut beat Pella 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in the 2017 Australian Open first round.

Later today, second-seed Russian Karen Khachanov takes on home favourite and three-time former champion Philipp Kohlschreiber, while American Denis Kudla meets last week’s Hungarian Open titlist Matteo Berrettini of Italy.