Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut claimed the Aircel Chennai Open title defeating 20-year-old rising star Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 to claim the fist ATP tournament of the season. It was a competition between the next-gen player in Daniil Medvedev taking on Roberto Bautista Agut. Medvedev was chasing his first ATP title while Bautista Agut had already won four singles titles including two in 2016 when he won in Sofia and Auckland.

Bautista Agut grabs lone break

Both players started with good holds of serve. In the third game with Medvedev serving, the Spaniard ran away to a love-40 lead gaining a break point after Medvedev netted a backhand. He managed to save two of the three break points faced but Bautista Agut forced the error from his opponent in the next game, hitting a powerful forehand to break. The number two seed consolidated the break to take a comfortable 4-1 lead.

Medvedev would make plenty of errors on his backhand side and would see inconsistency on serve with very few aces here and there throughout the match but had a low percentage on his first serve. Not long after, Bautista Agut claimed te first set, racing away to a love-40 lead and taking the first set 6-3 with a powerful ace that would clip the line. 

Bautista Agut wins title

The second set saw long rallies in the match with both players holding their own on serve for the majority of the set. Bautista Agut always looked capable of breaking down the young Russian, while Medvedev was doing just enough to stay on serve. With the score at 3-4 in favour of the Russian, he took a medical timeout for a thigh injury. After the timeout, the world number 14 held serve to love then put the 20-year-old under some pressure.

Bautista Agut in action against Medvedev (Photo: @chennaiopen)
Bautista Agut in action against Medvedev (Photo: @chennaiopen)

Medvedev fired a double fault to present the Spaniard with a break point opportunity. Following a mini-rally, Bautista Agut broke hitting a backhand passing shot. The number two seed this week raced ahead to a love-40 lead before clinching his fifth title with some clean ball striking. 

Key stats

Bautista Agut was generally solid on serve going on to win 84 percent of first service points and 82 percent of points on his second serve. Medvedev won more than 70 percent of points on his first serve but his second serve let him down as he won only 43 percent of the points. The world number 14 faced no break points but converted two of his four break points.

The Russian could only save two of the four break points saved while failing to gain any break points of his own. Bautista Agut's return game was strong winning 84 percent of the points, whilst Medvedev's return game was also quite strong it wasn't enough for him as he won 62 percent points. Overall the Spaniard won 58 percent total points with the Russian winning 42 percent. 

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