SOFIA, BULGARIA – SOFIA OPEN TENNIS RESULTS AND RAMBLINGS

Written by: Staff on 5th February 2016

SOFIA, BULGARIA - SOFIA OPEN TENNIS RESULTS AND RAMBLINGS |

Very well taken care of in #Sofia and a pleasure to play tennis with all the kids @SofiaOpen #Sofiaopen @atpworldtour #tennis #sofia #bulgaria – Photo by @matt_ebden via Instagram.

Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut is through to the semi-finals of the inaugural Garanti Koza Sofia Open after defeating eighth seed Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-3 on Friday.

The Spaniard is bidding for his second ATP World Tour title of the season after triumphing in Auckland (d. Sock) ahead of a fourth-round showing at the Australian Open (l. to Berdych).

Bautista Agut claimed his 10th win of the season as he prevailed in 69 minutes, winning 77 per cent of his service points and converting two of his five break point chances.

Into the Semis for @robertobautistaagut! The #CTLIndia star defeated Adrian Mannarino in straight sets at the #SofiaOpen. #CTLPower – Photo by @ctlindia via Instagram.

“It is never easy to start a tournament in the quarter-finals, especially when your opponent has played two matches,” said Bautista Agut, who received a bye through the first round and a walkover against Filip Krajinovic in the second round. “I think I did a great job. It is also never easy to play against him, he has a really lefty and good serve. I think I competed well and that’s why I could beat him.

“I am really happy about this start of the season. I have to think about the things that made me play good and win matches in order to keep on playing that way.”

In the semi-finals, Bautista Agut will face sixth seed Gilles Muller, who fired 14 aces as he rallied from a 5-2 double break deficit in the first set to beat third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes.

“It was definitely not the start that I had planned,” said Muller. “I was very passive and I gave him time to play his game. I got a little bit frustrated because it was exactly what I didn’t plan to do. So at 5-2 I told myself, ‘It’s over now anyway, so try to be aggressive and try to find a rhythm for the second set.’

“I got the break and I felt this is the way I have to play; he also got tight a little bit. I got back to 5-5 and from that point on I feel I played some really good tennis. I am very happy with my performance today.”

All eight seeds have advanced to the quarter-finals in Sofia, marking only the second time since 2009 it has happened on the ATP World Tour.

( Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/bautista-agut-troicki-seppi-2016-sofia-friday )

RESULTS – THURSDAY, 4 FEBRUARY 2016

Singles – Second Round

[1] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) d F. Krajinovic (SRB) w/o (right shoulder)

[2] V. Troicki (SRB) d [Q] D. Brands (GER) 64 63

[4] A. Seppi (ITA) d T. de Bakker (NED) 62 61

[5] P. Kohlschreiber (GER) d D. Dzumhur (BIH) 61 46 63

[6] G. Muller (LUX) d R. Berankis (LTU) 75 76(4)

[8] A. Mannarino (FRA) d [Q] M. Copil (ROU) 64 67(5) 63

Doubles – Quarter-finals

[3] W. Koolhof (NED) / M. Middelkoop (NED) d [PR] L. Dlouhy (CZE) / S. Stakhovsky (UKR) 61 67(7) 10-4