Roberto Bautista Agut is certainly flying under the radar at the 2016 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Ranked No 18 in the world and seeded fourth here this week, there has barely been a mention of the 27-year-old Spaniard, with most of the attention focused, somewhat understandably, on world No 1 Novak Djokovic and world No 4 Stan Wawrinka. Even the likes of Australian Nick Kyrgios is garnering more column inches than Bautista Agut.
It is surely the way the quiet and unassuming Bautista Agut prefers it, and while he may be a man of few words, he certainly let his tennis do all the talking on Wednesday afternoon. In fact, given his demolition of promising South Korean Hyeon Chung, it was more like bellowing from the rooftops, with a megaphone.
His serve was near flawless, his groundstokes from the baseline too sharp for his younger opponent, and his approaches to the net well-selected and effective.
See more: Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: The National's full coverage
First on Centre Court on a muggy Dubai afternoon on Wednesday, Bautista Agut needed just 55 minutes to dispatch 19-year-old Hyeon Chung 6-0, 6-1 in a ruthless all-round display. Chung may be highly-rated and tipped for a bright future, but this was a stark lesson in how far the world No 66 has to come before regularly challenging the top guys.
“It’s good to win like this, playing well and doing everything you practice for to get the result. It’s nice,” Bautista Agut said. “But I have to be humble and know that to win like this all the time is impossible. Every win you have to work a lot. For sure, I’m happy because I won fast today but I know it’s gonna be tougher and tougher.”
However, there is no time for Bautista Agut to reflect on his passage into the quarter-finals. The Spaniard is in doubles action later on Wednesday evening with Portugal’s Joao Sousa, and he will have a chance to double Chung’s misery as the South Korean, alongside Jiri Vesely, will be their opponents.
“Normally I stay focused on singles. I’m not used to the playing singles and doubles,” Bautista Agut said. “I decided to play this week both because last week I didn’t play and next week I’m not going to play, so it’s going to be a busy week.”
Bautista Agut will take on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals, and he is expecting a tough battle against the former world No 8.
“He plays good on this surface, and has a great serve,” he said. “I will have to play good tennis and return well to beat him.”
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