Bautista Agut finds rhythm on the clay of Estoril | ATP Tour

Estoril

Bautista finds rhythm on the clay of Estoril

Dominic Thiem also debuted with victory this Monday

April 01, 2024

Roberto Bautista Agut already has 397 ATP Tour victories in his career.
By ATPTour.com/es Staff

Roberto Bautista Agut wants to turn the European clay court season into a balm, where his experience can be a real wall for the majority of the locker room. At 35 years old, the Spaniard began his journey at the Millennium Estoril Open this Monday, shaping one of his great victories of the 2024 season, laying the foundations for a week of promotion on the Iberian Peninsula.

The player from Castellón surpassed Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-1, 7-5, current runner-up of the tournament and one of the main names in the main draw in the Portuguese ATP 250. With a sober performance from the baseline, Roberto achieved a result marked by his effectiveness, taking advantage of the three breaking balls generated to tip the match in his favor.

The Portuguese coast has inspired the first blows of the Castellón native, raised on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in a fishing environment similar to the one found this week in Estoril. After an intermittent start to the season, with a 4-6 record that made him briefly leave the world’s Top 100, the Spaniard hopes to regain the energy that made him one of the most stable players on the ATP Tour during the last decade.

The No. 94 of the PIF ATP Rankings will face an intense path in the first clay court tournament of his 2024 season. Bautista Agut will measure in the second round the winner of the duel that will face the German Daniel Altmaier, executioner of Jannik Sinner in the last edition from Roland Garros, with his compatriot Pedro Martínez Portero, champion of the ATP Challenger Tour in Girona last week.

For his part, Dominic Thiem was able to celebrate his first ATP Tour victory of the season, after a match in which he was able to resist Maximilian Marterer in three sets 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4 in two hours and 14 minutes.

The Austrian, who is currently ranked No. 93 in the world, will face Richard Gasquet in the second round on the Portuguese clay, who entered the main draw as a Lucky Loser.

The Millennium Estoril Open is the first European clay court tournament of the 2024 ATP Tour season, kicking off one of the most anticipated tours on the calendar. Hosted in the picturesque coastal town of Cascais, this edition features an excellent roster of players on Portuguese clay, including among its contenders two current members of the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings and two former Roland Garros runners-up.

Did you know…?
Roberto Bautista Agut has lifted two ATP Tour trophies on clay in his professional career. The man from Castellón imposed his talent on the surface in the 2014 Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, an achievement that allowed him to debut in the world Top 20, and in the 2022 Generali Open in Kitzbühel, the most recent title in his individual record.