Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain reacts after winning the tennis final match of the 2022 ATP Qatar Open against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in Doha on February 19, 2022. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
We are approaching the business end of the Canadian Open 2022 and we can expect some thrilling matches coming our way. One of them is the Casper Ruud-Roberto Bautista Agut match at the round of 16 stages of the competition.
The Norwegian tennis pro has had impressive returns thus far in 2022. He bagged his first title of the year at the Argentina Open and defended his titles at the Geneva Open, and Swiss Open. Add to that two appearances in the finals in the Miami Open and the French Open.
The fourth seed outclassed Alex Molcan in the round of 32 encounters. Ruud won the match 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Ruud looked really menacing in the second set and didn’t give his opponent much of a sniff.
Interestingly, Roberto Bautista Agut has also come into this tournament on the back of a title-winning campaign. He defeated Filip Misolic in the final of the Kitzbuhel 2022 tournament last month.
Last year, Agut made it to the quarter-final stage of the Canadian Open. He will look to go deeper this time around. For that, the veteran will have to pass a stern test against Ruud. The Spaniard will take confidence from the fact that 8 of his 11 titles have come on this surface. The 34-year-old convincingly defeated Marcos Giron and Jenson Brooksby in the first couple of matches at this year’s Canadian Open competition.
Roberto Bautista Agut holds a 2-0 lead over the youngster. The first meeting between the two players came at the 2018 Bavarian International and the second one came earlier this year at the ATP Cup. In both instances, Agut won in straight sets.
Prediction: Roberto Bautista Agut should pick up another win but this time the contest might be decided in the third set.
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