Bautista Agut joins Big 3 in semis
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — Roberto Bautista Agut came to Wimbledon this year with big plans — none of which involved reaching the semifinals. At 31, the Spanish baseliner had never made it past the fourth round at the All England Club, and he did not expect that pattern to change. He planned to be on an island in the Mediterranean this week, enjoying his bachelor party.
“We had everything organized,” Bautista Agut said Wednesday after beating Guido Pella, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in a quarterfinal on No. 1 Court. “My friends, six of them, are all there.”
The sunny beaches of Ibiza can wait. Instead Bautista Agut, seeded No. 23, will keep company with the Big Three of men’s tennis on Friday, meeting Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, in one semifinal, with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the other.
“It feels better to be in London,” Bautista Agut said, noting that he expected his friends to be there, too, moving the party to the site of Friday’s match.
Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have a combined 53 Grand Slam singles titles; Bautista Agut will be in his first Grand Slam semifinal.
He beat Pella, the 26th seed and another dedicated baseliner, in a groundstroke battle that reflected how much the grass surface at Wimbledon has slowed since the days when the serve-and-volley ruled.
Their quarterfinal was largely devoid of aggressive forward thrust or stunning points, filled instead with steady, grinding rallies between competitors who mirrored each other in guts and played as if they had a phobia about the net.
Bautista Agut and Pella entered the quarterfinals with great confidence.
Bautista Agut had not lost a set in the tournament, and he said he was feeling the fruits of the many years he had toiled to improve.
“My shots are really, really low,” he said of his playing style, how the low bouncing balls he typically hits are well suited to Wimbledon.
Baseline players have won Wimbledon, but each of them — from Bjorn Borg to Chris Evert to Nadal — has looked to press forward and end points faster than Bautista Agut did.
Nadal didn’t end up at the net very often either in his quarterfinal win over Sam Querrey on Wednesday, but he pressed the action forward, engaging in only seven rallies of nine or more shots.
By contrast, Bautista Agut and Pella played 39 such rallies, many lasting longer than nine shots.
Talk of playing style is one thing. At this point, all that really matters is winning, and Djokovic sounded extremely confident Wednesday after beating David Goffin, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, on Centre Court.
“I’ve been playing my best tennis in this tournament in the last two rounds, fourth round and today,” said Djokovic.
Heading into Friday’s match, Bautista Agut can lean on the fact that he has two wins over Djokovic in 2019.