TENNIS – Ladies’ no.30 seed Paula Badosa and men’s no.8 seed Roberto Bautista Agut lost their fourth-round matches, bringing Spain’s interest in the main draws to an end.
Roberto Bautista Agut was outclassed in an impressive display by Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who reached his first quarter-final at Wimbledon on Monday. Shapovalov won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 7-5.
Shapovalov happy with his result
“I played some really high-level tennis today,” Shapovalov said. “I got a little bit nervous in the third set, but that is totally normal, and I dealt with that really well. I played flawlessly and I am super happy with myself.”
“To beat a player like [Roberto] Bautista Agut in straight sets backs up my level from my match against Andy [Murray]. I am happy, I feel like I am improving every single match. I knew it was going to be a process on this surface, to really develop my game on it. I have always loved playing on it [grass], it is just about getting comfortable.”
After a set where the Canadian dominated, Roberto Bautista Agut kept in touch with the Canadian at the start of the second set. Then Shapovalov broke in the eighth game to lead 5-3. He dictated play, moving the Spaniard from side to side.
Bautista Agut reached the semi-finals in 2019 at Wimbledon.
Muchova too much for Badosa
Ladies’ no.19 seed Karolina Muchova reached the quarterfinals, defeating no.30 seed Paula Badosa of Spain, 7-6(6), 6-4, in their fourth-round clash.
This was the first meeting between the pair and it took Muchova 1hour 33 minutes to get past Badosa.
Muchova came back from a break down and a big tie-break deficit in a tightly fought first set. Badosa took the early break lead at 2-0 and held onto to 5-3, where she served for the set. It was then that Muchova struck back.
However, Badosa earned another advantage in the critical first-set tiebreak, drawing errors from Muchova to lead 5-2. However, Muchova produced some strong returns that brought her to 6-6, saving a set point in the process.
Badosa’s double fault gave Muchova set point, which she converted after a long rally.
“I really like to play on grass,” Muchova said, in her post-match press conference. “Then the club, the people, and everything, it’s just really nice here. I’m really happy I made it again, and I will try to go further this time.”
“I still believed that I could, when it’s 5-4, [put] a little bit of pressure on her,” Muchova said. “If I put some good points in and the ball in, that I have a chance to change it, and it happened like that today. So, I’m really happy I still kept playing every ball.”
