Roberto Bautista Agut beats Roman Safiullin in Barcelona | ATP Tour
Barcelona
Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona, on brink of 400th win
Hardt becomes first Dominican to win tour-level match since 2018
April 15, 2024
Roberto Bautista Agut beats Roman Safiullin on Monday in Barcelona.
By ATP Staff
Roberto Bautista Agut is within one win of a major milestone on home soil at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
The former No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings downed Roman Safiullin 6-3, 7-6(8) on Monday at the clay-court ATP 500 for the 399th tour-level triumph of his career. Bautista Agut saved a set point in the second-set tie-break before wrapping a one-hour, 59-minute first-round victory.
Bautista Agutโs reward for levelling his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Safiullin at 1-1 is a second-round meeting with seventh seed Karen Khachanov. The Spaniard, who turned 36 on Sunday, is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week.
Birthday on Sunday, victory on Monday ๐๐๐@BautistaAgut earns a belated present with 6-3, 7-6(8) ๐ Safiullin@bcnopenbs | #BCNOpenBS pic.twitter.com/4MoQKI4AYj
โ ATP Tour (@atptour) April 15, 2024
Monday was a memorable day in Barcelona for Nick Hardt. The 23-year-old qualifier overcame #NextGenATP home favourite Martin Landaluce 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Pista Rafa Nadal to win his ATP Tour main-draw debut. Hardt became the first Dominican to win an ATP Tour match since Victor Estrella Burgos in Quito in 2018.
โIt was a crazy day, obviously a very special day,โ Hardt told ATPTour.com. โI feel at home here in Barcelona. Two weeks ago I won my first Challenger here, this week I qualified for my first ATP 500 and I just won my first Tour match in the main draw.
โI just have a special connection here with the crowd, with the Spanish crowd. I was also really happy with the Dominican crowd that came to support me today. Just really happy to go through to the second round.โ
Hardt, who has risen 30 spots to No. 199 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Barcelona so far, converted four of nine break points he earned against Landaluce, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He will take on 13th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry next.
Brandon Nakashima and Harold Mayot also booked their second-round spot on Monday. Nakashima ousted 2023 semi-finalist Daniel Evans 7-6(5), 6-2 to set a meeting with second seed Andrey Rublev, while qualifier Mayot beat Pedro Cachin 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3 to advance to face Cameron Norrie.
Despite Cachinโs loss, Facundo Diaz Acosta and Marco Trungelliti gave Argentine fans reason to cheer in Spain. Diaz Acosta beat home wild card Daniel Rincon 6-1, 6-4 and Trungelliti overcame Duje Ajdukovic 6-2, 7-6(3).
Matteo Arnaldi also advanced. The Italian World No. 40 was locked at 5-5 in the first set with Arthur Cazaux when the Frenchman was forced to retire after turning his ankle.
