Roberto Bautista with great effort he overcame the first round of the Sofia tournament and needed three sets, all decided in tiebreakers, to defeat the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (9), 6-7 (2) and 7-6 (5).
Bautista, 60th in the ATP rankings, took three and a quarter hours to eliminate number 56, the ninth favorite at the Bulgarian Open. He served twice to win the match, without taking advantage of it.
There was not a single break of serve in the first set, despite the fact that the player from Castellón had one chance in the second game and four more in the fourth.
With the clash deadlocked, they went to a tiebreak, where the distances were minimal and the Belgrade player had three set points before Bautista took advantage of his second.
The clarity with which the rivals won the second set suggested a new tiebreaker. Bautista finally got a break in the seventh (4-3) but, serving to win at 5-4, lost his serve for the first time. The rebalancing led, once again, to the tie-break, this time clearly for the Serbian.
Bautista took a 3-0 lead in the final set, but lost his lead again. He broke back again, from 3-3 to 5-3 and served, and once again lost his chance. The tiebreaker favored him for the second time.
His opponent in the round of 16 is the Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, 62 in the world. The Sofia tournament is an ATP 250 with Italian Lorenzo Musetti as the first seed.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
