DOHA (Qatar): Bautista Agut overcame a tough windy condition on Friday to beat Andey Rublev for his second Qatar Open final.
The 2019 winner extended his winning run in Doha to nine matches with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the third-seeded Russian in 74 minutes.
The Spaniard will play Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in Saturday’s final, and will hope to capture his 10th ATP Tour title.
“It was very difficult to play tennis today, with the windy conditions,” said Bautista Agut. “But I put a lot of pressure on his second serve and played really good tennis. I played a long match yesterday.”
Rublev, who was playing his first match of the week after two consecutive walkovers, had lifted trophies at his past four ATP 500 tournaments, including the World Tennis Tournament (defeated Fucsovics) last week.
The 23-year-old Rublev is now 13-2 on the season, which includes helping Russia capture the ATP Cup crown (d. Italy) and a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals, where he lost to to Medvedev.
