Second up on Stadium 3 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was Feliciano Lopez and his compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut stepped The elder Spaniard, Lopez, won 7-6 (5) 6-7(10) 6-4, but not without struggling first. Feliciano Lopez has his own style of tennis, he is a defensive player when he plays on the baseline but when he is at the ne,t he can be very aggressive. Roberto Bautista Agut is a solid player from the baseline who can always find angles to hit.
Lopez Takes First Set Tiebreak
It was Bautista Agut who started the match serving, and consequently he was the first facing break points. Feliciano Lopez was approaching the net very often as usual, showing off his good defensive skills. In the first game of the match, the two-time 2016 champ faced four break points before giving the game on the fifth with a double-fault.
The players were playing some great and long rallies all set long, but Lopez was always a break ahead of Bautista Agut until the seventh game of the set when the 14 seed started to get more aggressive and got the break back to level the set at four games all. After this, there were no more breaks in the set, but Lopez took the breaker 7-5.
Another Tiebreak Set, Taken By Bautista Agut This Time
The intensity level was getting higher as Feliciano Lopez started the second set serving and both of the players were fighting for a win. The rallies were endless although, the world number 21 was able to break Bautista Agut's serve to take the lead two games to love. It was a quick lead as the younger Spaniard broke back right after that. The second set was full of breaks, nobody could hold their service games. After having his serve broken right back, Lopez broke Roberto Bautista Agut's serve again and like before, the world number 17 broke back right after. Afterwards, the set ended like the first one, in a tiebreak, although this tiebreak was very different from the first one. Why? Because in this tiebreak there were four set points and two match points. The two-time 2016 champion this season prevailed and took the match to a third set.
A quick one with a lot of great points
The third set was much faster than the other two but had the most amazing points of the match that included lobs, drop shots, volleys and passing shots. While Lopez was serving for the match at 5-4, he faced a 0-30 but he was able to overcome that and to win the match on the first match point of the third set. All in all, three match points were needed to end this match.
Stats
In this match, Lopez fired 12 aces and double faulted 6 times. Roberto Bautista Agut hit nine aces and had five double faults.
There were 17 break points in this match and the most of them were saved. Feliciano hit 50 percent of his first serves in and Bautista Agut hit 66 percent of them in.
What's next?
Feliciano Lopez will face the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic and Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Roberto Bautista Agut is heading to the Miami Open.
