Top seed Stan Wawrinka will look to continue his hot run of form as he takes on Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinals on the St. Petersburg Open on Sunday. The Spaniard will be looking to avoid a second straight semifinal defeat in Russia, while the Swiss is eyeing a second straight tournament victory after claiming the US Open title earlier this month. Here’s what to look for the in the St. Petersburg semifinals.
How they got here
While perfect not quite at the same level he was at two Sundays ago, Wawrinka has been very strong so far in St. Petersburg. After receiving a bye in the first round, the top seed was dominant in his second round win over Lukas Rosol, dropping only four games in the blowout win. He had a much trickier quarterfinal, resisting some tough pressure from Viktor Troicki before building some late momentum and scoring the win in straight sets.
Bautista Agut has had a tough run so for in St. Petersburg. He also had a first round bye, but has been put under pressure in both his matches since. The Spaniard has dropped the opening set of both his matches so far before going on to win them in three sets. He needed a third set tiebreak to dispatch Ricardas Berankis in the second round, before roaring back to take the final two sets against eighth seed Joao Sousa.
The History
This will be the first meeting between Wawrinka and Bautista Agut. Interestingly, the Spaniard has won more matches this year than his third-ranked opponent. However, Wawrinka has four titles to Bautista Agut’s two. However, Bautista Agut has a title on indoor hard courts already this year, which his opponent does not. The Spaniard has actually reached more finals on indoor hard courts than his opponent, meaning he might actually have a slight advantage on the surface.
Analysis
While Bautista Agut is a strong baseliner and will likely be able to hang in during the rallies better than Wawrinka’s last two opponents, he does not possess a powerful serve like Troicki or Rosol. This will be a problem for the Spaniard because, while he might have a better chance at breaking the Wawrinka serve, he will have a far harder time holding. If Wawrinka has been able to get the job done against harder servers, he should be able to get the necessary breaks against Bautista Agut, and then some.
One area where Bautista Agut could cause some trouble for the Swiss is his consistency. While both of Wawrinka’s opponents so far hit the ball harder than Bautista Agut, neither are as consistent from the baseline. The top seed is likely going to have to play more rallies in this match than he has in the last two rounds, while means he will need his powerful groundstrokes to be consistent.
If Wawrinka’s groundstrokes are finding their mark consistently, there will be little Bautista Agut can do to steal the victory. If wants to win, he needs to stretch rallies, grind, and force Wawrinka into uncomfortable positions where he cannot blow his shots past the Spaniard. The fourth seed will need to force some errors and get some inconsistency going from his opponent.
Prediction: Wawrinka in straight sets
The top seed has all the weapons and has been getting the job done. While he might have a slightly tougher time, it’s going to be really hard for Bautista Agut to do enough damage to stop Wawrinka. The Swiss needs to play his game half well and that should be enough.