MADRID, 23 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista has prevailed this Friday in two sets (7-5, 7-6) against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number three in the world ranking, in the quarterfinals of the Halle (Germany) tournament, of the ATP 500 category and that was played on grass.
The man from Castellón, seeded eighth in the tournament, played one of his best games of the year to win in two disputed sets against a Medvedev who was the first seed, but who had just suffered to beat the Serbian Laslo Djere in the round of 16.
The game started badly for Bautista, suffering a ‘break’ in the first game, but recovered to equalize in the next. From that moment on, both displayed very practical tennis to preserve their serves, with a high percentage of success, since neither of them conceded a breaking ball.
In the twelfth game, Medvedev had doubts with his service and Bautista took advantage of his first set point to close in his favor 7-5, using his forehand. After the inconsistency shown in previous rounds, this time it was being an accurate hit.
The accolade of going ahead helped the man from Castellón to go out into the second set with great confidence, winning his blank serve, in addition to having two break points in his rival’s first. But he couldn’t take advantage of them, something he didn’t do either in the fourth game, when he missed a clear forehand that would have given him the break.
Equality was the dominant trend, but the consistency of the Spaniard, who only conceded a breaking ball in the ninth game that he saved without problems, helped him reach the ‘tie-break’. There again he found his punch to close the game without hesitation, against an opponent who was not able to find his rhythm throughout the match.
The next step for Bautista, a grass specialist since he reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2019 -his best result in ‘Grand Slam’-, will be the dispute this Saturday in the semifinal against the winner of the duel between the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor and the also Russian Andrey Rublev.