Roberto Bautista Agut looks to build on his Cincinnati semifinal run when he gets started at the U.S. Open against Tennys Sandgren on Tuesday. Karen Khachanov and Jannik Sinner are also taking the court.
(8) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Tennys Sandgren
Bautista Agut and Sandgren will be squaring off for the first time in their careers when they clash in an intriguing first-round contest at the U.S. Open on Tuesday. This marks a relatively quick turnaround for Bautista Agut, who reached the Cincinnati semifinals last week–also in New York–before falling to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in a three-hour thriller. The 11th-ranked Spaniard is just 11-7 lifetime at the U.S. Open and has lost in the first round twice in a row.
Although Bautista Agut is not entirely hopeless at slams in general (he made it to the Wimbledon semifinals last summer), Sandgren was built for the big stage. The 48th-ranked American has twice reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, including this year. He also played well at the Cincinnati Masters but ran into Djokovic earlier than Bautista Agut did and fell in the third round. In what will surely be an entertaining baseline battle with very small margins between the two, this is a real upset opportunity for Sandgren.
Pick: Sandgren in 5
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Jannik Sinner vs. (11) Karen Khachanov
Khachanov and Sinner are also going head-to-head in what will be a contest with much bigger serving and much shorter points. It is another rough draw for Sinner in his second trip to Flushing Meadows, having lost to Stan Wawrinka right off the bat last season. The coronavirus hiatus did not come at a good time for the 19-year-old Italian, who was one of 2019’s breakout stars on tour. He returned at the Cincinnati Masters and suffered a bad loss to Salvatore Caruso in the first round of qualifying.
Khachanov’s first slam appearance of 2020 was a wild one, ending with two consecutive final-set tiebreakers. The 16th-ranked Russian outlasted Mikael Ymer in round two and then succumbed to Nick Kyrgios in perhaps the most entertaining match of this abbreviated year. Khachanov is coming off a third-round showing in “Cincinnati,” where he beat Alexander Bublik and Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets and then lost to Bautista Agut 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Based on current form and experience at majors, Khachanov should have the edge.
Pick: Khachanov in 4
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It is a enormous, I mean a really enormous tennis levels difference between Bautista and Sandgren, easy 3-0 or 3-1 for Bautista, thats it.
Khachanov vs Sinner 3-2
Sandgren is great against players that have clear vulnerabilities that can be exploited by a strong work ethic. I’m not sure Bautista Agut is that type of opponent and I also think Sandgren benefits a lot from an audience and a “big stage” as you put it, which will be missing on this occasion.
Bautista Agut is like Federer to a lot of the tour. A human backboard that’s almost impossible to beat when he’s playing well.
Bautista Agut 3:1 if Sandgren is lucky
Have to agree w/all the comments above….RBA just too tough…in 3;….and K’nov in 3 as well.
Good call on RBA! K’nov hung in for the win but it wasn’t that easy.
AGree re: Bautista