ATP Cincinnati: crazy comeback! Ailing Novak Djokovic beats Roberto Bautista Agut
Novak Djokovic remains undefeated in the 2020 calendar year. The industry leader made his comeback against Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinals of the CIncinnati ATP Masters 1000 event and made it into the final with 4: 6, 6: 4 and 7: 6 (0). In this he now meets Milos Raonic .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Aug 29, 2020, 12:17 am
"He's an underrated player," said Novak Djokovic in the run-up to his semifinals at the Western & Southern Open. This meant his future opponent, the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. With this, the Serb of course also alludes to his very personal past with the Spanish who acted so confidently. Because Bautista Agut is one of the very few players on this planet who can really be dangerous to Novak Djokovic.
This was also shown in this semi-final at the CIncinnati ATP Masters 1000 event. After two breaks in the third and fourth game of the first set, it was again the Spaniard in the seventh game who was able to take the service from his opponent. This time there was no prompt reply from Djokovic - and so Bautista Agut was able to clean passage one a little later.
Djokovic with medical time-out
The Spaniard was also the more active player at the start of the second set, probably because Djokovic complained more and more about a sore neck - an injury that already forced the industry leader to withdraw from the double field. When the score was 1: 2 for the Serb, he reacted and called the physio. The world number one was treated for several minutes, then could continue again.
Immediately after the break in negotiations, Djokovic was wide awake again, equaled a 0:40 from his point of view on Bautista Agut's serve and grabbed the first break in the first set. With another strong game, the 17-time Grand Slam champion moved away 4-1. Djokovic was also treated the next time he changed sides, this is likely to be a more serious problem for the Serbs.
Bautista Agut comes back
Despite the physical discomfort of the world number one, the level of the game remained extremely high, with many long rallies shaping the action in the Louis Armstrong Stadium. With these high quality rallies, Bautista Agut also secured the all-important re-break in the second set in the seventh game of the set. And Djokovic? That was treated again with the following change.
After a completely safe service game by the Spaniard, Novak Djokovic had to fight again at his own serve, but was able to deliver his serve. Bautista Agut now had to serve against the set equalization and had the disadvantage of having to wait for the stadium roof to close beforehand. And in fact, the nerves did not hold the Spaniard, Djokovic managed the break at the right time. So a third sentence had to bring the decision.
Despite the unfortunate loss of the set, it was again the Spaniard who should make the better start. In a hugely competitive third game, the Spaniard used his second break chance after an avoidable mistake by Djokovic and gained the advantage in the decisive set. However, Bautista Agut had to return this immediately, also because, as in the last game of the second set, he made a double mistake at an extremely inconvenient time.
Crazy finale
That caused a small performance explosion for the world number one, Djokovic served his serve and celebrated another break - went 5-2 in front after defending a break ball. For Roberto Bautista Agut this match was by no means lost, on his own serve the Spaniard shortened to 5: 3 with a break to zero and Bautista Agut set to 5: 4. And everything was back on track in this third round.
Bautista Agut was also able to win the last game that lacked equalization in the decision set, the pressure was now on Novak Djokovic's shoulders again. With this one, however, the thread now seemed to be completely broken. The Serb gave his opponent the break with two avoidable mistakes. Bautista Agut could now serve on the match win. But even with the Spaniard, the nerves did not hold this pressure, so the decision had to be made in the tie-break.
In this Djokovic found the clearly better start, quickly went 4-0 with two mini breaks. Even in a row, the Serb should not give up any more points and won the tie-break straight away. A visibly battered Novak Djokovic made the comeback in a crazy match perfect.
Djokovic remains unbeaten
Novak Djokovic's winning streak continues this calendar year. The Serb had already won all 21 matches of the season before this game, only Dominic Thiem in the final of the Australian Open and Gael Monfils at the ATP 500 event in Dubai could pose a threat to the industry leader. Bautista Agut was also on that Friday evening, but then had to admit defeat to the world number one.
In the final he meets Milos Raonic . The Canadian defeated Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in two sets in the first semi-final of the day and was in excellent shape there. For the women, Naomi Osaka and Victoria Azarenka are in the final of the Western & Southern Open .