Novak Djokovic vs. Roberto Bautista Agut takes place tonight in the fourth round of the 2015 US Open.
This US Open match is scheduled to start at 00:00 BST.
In the UK, the match airs live on Sky Sports/Sky Sports 3 HD (and online here), while you can also watch and bet on live tennis with bet365 here:
Preview:
Djokovic experienced the first turbulence of what has so far been a smooth ride into the second week of the 2015 US Open when he faced Andreas Seppi on Friday. Will he regain his equilibrium against Bautista Agut in the fourth round?
Having said that Djokovic experienced turbulence against Seppi, he is still yet to drop a set. But things were a bit stickier against the Italian than they had been against Joao Souza and Andreas Haider-Maurer. Djokovic said he was struggling in the hot and humid conditions and felt dizzy during the first set, making 14 unforced errors and serving at only 56%, and he dropped serve twice during the match – including when he served for it at 5-4 in the third – after having not faced a break point during the first two rounds.
‘Obviously I didn’t want to get into a fourth set. Didn’t close out the match at 5-4,’ Djokovic said after the 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory. ‘He played a very good game. Got a little bit tight. Match could have gone either way. Again, I was focused in the right moments. I came up with some big serves, but generally was a really, really tough three sets. Just glad to get through this one.’
Djokovic’s path to the US Open final has also been smoothed further, after the first-round exit of fourth seed Kei Nishikori who beat him in last year’s semifinals, by the third-round defeat of projected quarterfinal opponent Rafael Nadal. And he has little to fear from his opponent in the round of 16, Roberto Bautista Agut.
Bautista Agut progressed to the fourth round when his third-round opponent David Goffin joined the swelling ranks of those who have retired in record numbers during the first week at the US Open. Goffin, suffering from stomach illness, pulled the plug despite winning the first two sets and Bautista Agut moved through 2-6, 5-7, 6-3, 3-1 (ret.) after a five-set battle against compatriot Pablo Carrena Busta in the second round.
It’s the third time Bautista Agut has reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam after doing so at the US Open 12 months ago and at Wimbledon this summer. The Spanish player won the Most Improved Player of the Season award last year for his stellar 2014, which saw him rise from world no. 73 in the rankings to world no. 15, and he has backed it up decently in 2015, reaching semifinals in Chennai, Marseille, Munich and Umag as well as the aforementioned round of 16 finish at Wimbledon and reaching the quarterfinals of Barcelona.
What Bautista Agut hasn’t done is really make an impact against the best players in the world. The Spanish player is just 10-26 against top-20 players, 3-19 against top-10 players – two of those wins against Tomas Berdych, and the third against Juan Martin del Potro – 2-13 against top five players (those wins against Berdych and del Potro). He has never troubled Djokovic in their previous meetings, both of which came on the hard courts of Dubai and saw Djokovic win 6-1, 7-6(4) in 2013 and 6-1, 6-3 in 2014. Bautista Agut’s flat-hitting game doesn’t overwhelm opponents with power and he certainly can’t hit through Djokovic, but he will also be out-defended and outmaneouvred by the quicker, more flexible and more adaptable Serb. Expect Djokovic to progress to the quarterfinals in swift straight sets tonight.
