Damien Kayat previews selected round of 16 fixtures coming your way from the ATP’s Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship.
Roberto Bautista Agut 4/10 | Nikoloz Basilashvili 7/4
Roberto Bautista Agut is one of the most deserving success stories on the ATP Tour. The hard-working Bautista Agut is one of a new generation of Spanish players who seems to thrive on the harder courts. He claimed the most prestigious title of his career when he won this very event last season. It all formed part of what was an exceptionally consistent 2018. He reached the final in Switzerland amongst a litany of semi-final and quarter-final showings. Agut has started 2019 in similarly impressive fashion, brilliantly capturing the Qatar Open title. He then recorded his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final appearance in Melbourne. Bautista Agut seems to thrive in these conditions and will be keen to enter the European clay-court season with yet another title to his name.
27-year-old Nikoloz Basilashvili is a true trailblazer in the Georgian tennis world. In winning last season’s German Open he became the first Georgian player to capture an ATP title. It was just the exclamation point for what was an excellent 2018. He surpassed his exploits in Germany with an exceptional victory in the China Open. He accounted for the bang in-form Juan Martin Del Potro to claim Georgia’s second ever ATP title. Though this hasn’t reached quite the same halcyon levels, a closer look at his results tells a different story. He reached the third round of the Aussie Open only to lose to the irrepressible Stefanos Tsitsipas. He also lost in a titanic three-set struggle against Novak Djokovic in Qatar. He is coming off an imperious victory over Karen Khachanov and is a player that no one is overly keen on encountering.
This will be their third meeting, with Bautista Agut holding sway with both victories thus far. Bautista Agut also clearly has the greater Grand Slam pedigree and knows how to win here. I just have the sneaking suspicion that Basilashvili could be a real threat here. Those two titles last season have given him the self-confidence necessary to pull off significant surprises.
Marton Fucsovics 6/10 | Jan-Lennard Struff 5/4
The career of Jan-Lennard Struff has been a study- generally- in underachievement. He has probably been more impactful on the double’s circuit, with a Grand Slam semi-final to his name. He has largely toiled on the single’s circuit- which sounds a bit like I’m disparaging his private life. But all jokes aside, not too much was expected of Struff going into this event. So his victory over the resurgent Raonic really shocked many in the tennis fraternity. Struff started the year in fairly decent fashion, reaching the semi-finals in Auckland. It’s hard to really pinpoint Struff’s potential this week. He is carrying an air of mystique this week and could prove dangerous to his more fancied opponents.
Hungarian Marton Fucsovics has stealthily gone about becoming one of the most improved players on tour over the last year or so. He beat Dzumhur in the opening match here and is looking to build on a quarter-final showing in Rotterdam last time out. He also already has a final appearance this season, having lost in the Sofia Open Final. Last season saw the Hungarian Number One incrementally build his numbers. He reached a slew of quarter-finals as well as claiming that crucial Geneva Open title. He also reached the fourth round of the Aussie Open- making him the first Hungarian player to achieve that since the 80’s.
This will be their second ever meeting, with Struff actually holding the advantage. That seems a bit academic though as that meeting came way back in 2014 on the Challenger Tour. Struff has won four out of his last ten matches while Fucsovics has won seven matches in that time. Struff may be well worth a bet considering the victory over Raonic. Fucsovics is clearly the more consistent player but it’s my job to look for value where I can. The Hungarian has played a lot of tennis of late and may come unstuck against a player with nothing to lose.
