The Peninsula
Playing the match of his life, seventh seed Roberto Bautista Agut yesterday rallied from a set down to stun World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to reach the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Bautista Agut will aim to lift his ninth ATP Tour trophy today against wild card Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.
Berdych, the World No. 71, who had been battling injuries for last six months, yesterday defeated fourth seed Marco Cecchinato 7-6, 6-3 to book a place in the final.
It took the 33 year-old an hour and 30 minutes to overcome the Italian in straight sets.
At the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex, Bautista Agut, ranked 24 on the ATP computer, outplayed the two-time Doha champion in two hours and 35 minutes.
The upset win was only his second against Djokovic in eight meetings and his fourth victory against an opponent inside the top 5 of the ATP rankings.
Bautista Agut’s previous win against Djokovic came two years ago in China.
“I will remember this match all my life. It was an unbelievable atmosphere,” Bautista Agut, 30, said after the pulsating clash.
“I work very hard to play tennis like this. I know it’s difficult to play at this level. That’s why Novak is No. 1 in the world. But I cannot be more happy than I am now.”
“I wanted to give everything I had in the match and fight until the last point,” Bautista Agut added.
“I could turn the second set. Novak was up and it was really tough. He was very solid and I had to play very good tennis. I had to play a lot of lines and serve very well. I did everything well today.”
The match between the two turned out to be two halves of contrasting play with Djokovic easily winning the first set and Bautista Agut turning the match on its head in the second and wrapping up things in the decider.
The first set was like a walk in the park for the World No.1 as his all-around game proved too solid for the seventh seed, with Djokovic winning it at 6-3.
In the second, the Spaniard made a remarkable recovery and raised his level of play by several notches and matched stroke for stroke against Djokovic.
The set saw some astonishing tennis from both the players, the drop shots, down the line shots, volleys and a few long rallies all which kept the full house entertained.
While in the first set, Djokovic was the dominant partner dictating terms, in the second it was Bautista Agut who pushed the top seed on the defensive.
Djokovic broke the Spaniard in the second game of the first set to take a 2-0 lead. In the seventh game Bautista Agut broke the Serbian but Djokovic wrapped up the set at 6-3.
In the second set, both players broke each other once before the set went into a tie-breaker which was won by Bautista Agut. In the decider, the World No. 26 took an early 2-0 lead to put pressure on Djokovic and although the reigning Wimbledon and US Open made a valiant bid to bounce back, Bautista Agut held on to register one of his remarkable wins of his career.