New Delhi:
Second seed and world number 14 Roberto Bautista Agut overpowered Benoit Paire in a lop-sided semifinal to set up the singles title clash of the ATP Chennai Open with young Daniil Medvedev, who fought off a match point to reach his maiden ATP final, on Sunday.
Agut served extremely well to register an easy 6-3 6-3 win over Paire, who paid the price for his unending unforced errors in the second semifinal. Agut, who also reached the final here in 2013, kept tightening the grip over the match with each game while Paire slid fast.
Agut will now take on Russia's 20-year-old Medvedev for his fifth career title. Medvedev came from behind and saved a match point to beat seasoned Israeli Dudi Sela 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2 in the first match of the day in two hours and six minutes.
"Paire is a very talented player. When he is focused he is difficult to beat. I played solid today, did all the right things," Agut, who lost to Janko Tipsarevic in 2013, said.
"Yesterday's tough match helped me in taking confidence into this match. Medvedev is a good tall player, he serves well. He has good strokes from the baseline, it will be a tough match," the Spaniard said.
The Spaniard had more control over his strokes as he lost only 13 points when he served. Out of those 14 points, four he lost only in one game.
After walking away with the opening set and leading 4-1 in the second he perhaps got complacent and lost his serve to hand Paire little opening for a comeback but recovered quickly to move to the final.
The two players mostly stayed at the baseline even as the Spaniard was more consistent with his service games. It was Paire who first tried to approach the net, looking to change the strategy but was not successful.
But Agut succeeded with the same strategy as he came forward and dropped a volley to earn two break points in the fourth game. He found Paire stuck at the baseline.
However, Paire served an ace to save the first and found a breath-taking backhand winner on the second after a long rally. With consecutive aces, he held the game, denying the Spaniard advantage.
Agut had given away only three points on his serve while Paire's service was always under pressure. A volley which he could have out away, Piare hit on the net to again face breakpoint and hit a forehand wide on the next point to hand Agut first break and a 5-3 lead.
Serving for the set, Agut lost four points, while he had lost only three in the previous four games combined.
Paire continued to struggle with unforced errors and hit a forehand error on set point number three. Out of frustration, he kicked the water bottles and received a warning from the chair umpire.
There was no end to errors of the Frenchman, winner of a single title on the Tour, and he lost first game of the second set to trail early. A marginal error with a forehand near the baseline put him down by a breakpoint and followed that with a double fault.
Even if Paire managed to put some pressure on Agut, he lacked consistently to get that elusive break. Losing the third game at love pushed Frenchman out of the match. Up 4-1 the Spaniard lost his serve in the sixth game but recovered quickly to close the match in his favour.
