Bautista Agut Downs Medvedev At Mallorca Championships

Roberto Bautista Agut (photo: Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images)

MALLORCA/STARNBERG, June 23, 2022

Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut eased past World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev of Russia 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Mallorca Championships. The fifth favourite of the ATP 250 grass-court tournament converted three of his six break-point opportunities to advance in one hour and 11 minutes.

It was the fourth time Bautista Agut has defeated the top-ranked player in the ATP Rankings with his three previous victories coming against Novak Djokovic.

“I had to play very good to beat Daniil. He’s the No. 1, the last champion here in Mallorca. He just beat me a few days ago. I played a really compete match,” Bautista Agut said in his on-court interview. “I was more convinced with my game today, hitting strong, very solid. I think I did a really good match.”

The World No. 20 and this year’s Doha champion will next play Switzerland’s Antoine Bellier. The 25-year-old qualifier from Geneva rallied past Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2 to book his first semi-final spot on the ATP Tour.

In the bottom half of the draw, second-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas came through a grass-court fight against US-American Marcos Giron to reach his first tour-level semi-final on the surface.

The 23-year-old Greek struggled to find his top level against Giron, but raised his game when needed to prevail 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and 35 minutes.

“It was a lot of work today. It was not easy,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “I had to deal with the heat, had to deal with my opponent playing great. It was a big physical effort. I had the fighting spirit.”

The World No. 6 will next take on Benjamin Bonzi after the Frenchman defeated Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 16 minutes.