Roberto Bautista Agut defeated Austria’s tennis star in a great duel in three sets. Roger Federer also lost, but was “really, really happy” afterwards.
The strong ATP 250 tournament in Doha lost its two top stars in the quarterfinals. First Roger Federer lost to Nikolos Basilaschwili on his comeback despite match balls, then Dominic Thiem had to admit defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut 6: 7 (3), 6: 2, 4: 6 in a high-class exchange of blows. For both of them it will continue next week at the 500 event in Dubai.
In the duel, which was very intense from the start, Thiem was unable to capitalize on an early break. At 4: 5 he fended off a set ball, in the tie-break the Spaniard, almost flawless as usual, had the better end for himself. But Thiem increased his level, put the world number 13. under pressure, often scored spectacularly and variedly and managed to balance the sentences. Above all, the backhand longline, his “new weapon”, seemed to bring Thiem onto the road to victory. The fact that every game was competitive and the game stayed on a knife’s edge was due to the equally strong opponent. Almost every rally ended with a winner. Bautista Agut took the lead 4: 2 and 5: 3 – ultimately too big a mortgage for Austria’s tennis star.
“It was really amazing”
“Roberto just doesn’t give you an easy point. I may have made one or two expensive mistakes, but overall I’m satisfied. It was definitely a step in the right direction,” said the 27-year-old from Lower Austria. “That was great. We both gave 120 percent, it was really unbelievable,” said Bautista Agut, who won the title in Qatar in 2019 (after defeating Novak Djoković) and will now face Andrej Rublew. After a bye and two non-appearances by his opponents, the Russian is in the semifinals without a fight.
Roger Federer also provided entertainment and excitement in his second match after a 405-day break from the tournament. The 39-year-old superstar had to admit defeat to the Georgian Nikolos Basilashvili 6: 3, 1: 6, 5: 7. Federer, who seemed a bit tired towards the end of the second three-sentence crime within 24 hours, even had match point at 5: 4. A little later he conceded the decisive break to 5: 6, which is the 42nd world ranking. no longer let take. Federer was anything but disappointed: “I’m happy with how I played. It was a really, really positive return to the tour. I’m happy.”
An Austrian is in the final. Doubles specialist Philipp Oswald defeated the top seeded Colombians Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah 6: 3, 6: 4 alongside New Zealander Marcus Daniell and will play for his ninth ATP title on Friday evening.
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