MADRID, November 24, 2014

Roberto Bautista Agut gives Spain a 1-0 lead over Canada in Sunday’s championship tie of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals. The World No. 9 returned to the squad only three days after his father died and showed no sign of the traumatic experience in the opening rubber against Felix Auger-Aliassime, who recently suffered from an ankle injury and played his first match since the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai at the beginning of October.

A solid Bautista Agut had a good start into the encounter. He won all points on his serve until the eighth game, in which he had to save the first break point of the match. The 31-year-old eventually secured an even opening set in the tie-break by the score of 7-3 after 56 minutes.

Bautista Agut took the momentum into the second set and broke the young Canadian’s serve in the second game. Auger-Aliassime, who had a couple of miss-hits from the baseline, finally found a forehand and got back on serve in the fifth game. The Castellon native, however, remained the more solid player on court and broke the Canadian to love for a 4-2 lead. From then on, Bautista Agut didn’t look back and secured a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory in one hour and 49 minutes.

🇪🇸 Half way to becoming the World Champions of Tennis..#CANESP #DavisCupMadridFinals #byRakuten pic.twitter.com/nf5vCRmtKF

— Davis Cup by Rakuten Madrid Finals (@DavisCupFinals) November 24, 2019

“It was very special feeling on the court and I just could go out and try my best, give my best. I am very happy I could win the first point for Spain,” Bautista Agut told Eurosport during his post match on-court interview.

Next up will be Rafael Nadal taking on Denis Shapovalov in the second singles rubber.