The opening round of the men’s singles category at the Cincinnati Open 2021 saw two top 20 players engage in a competitive battle. World No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut faced World No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov to advance to the second round in the final warmup tournament before the US Open.

Coming into the game, the Bulgarian led his Spanish opponent 3-1 in their head to head. In an intense match which had a suspension in play, Dimitrov took home the match in straight sets.

Grigor Dimitrov defeats Roberto Bautista Agut at the Cincinnati Open 2021

In the first set, Dimitrov served the first game of the set. While he held his serve, he took an early advantage by breaking his Spanish opponent’s first service game to go 2-0 up. Despite Bautista Agut making 68% of his first serve, he couldn’t match Dimitrov’s service game.

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In fact, the Bulgarian fired 10 aces in the first set. No more breaks followed Dimitrov‘s early break, with the World No. 20 comfortably sealing the first set 6-3.

Although Bautista Agut served the first game of the second set, Dimitrov once again broke his first service game of the set. The Bulgarian broke his serve in the first break point of the second set to go 1-0 up. However, the World No. 13 broke Dimitrov’s serve in the very next game to tie the set at 1-1.

Despite Dimitrov threatening yet another break in the third game, Agut held his serve to go 2-1 up. While both players kept their serve games, rain suspended play with the Spaniard leading the set 4-3. Play resumed after an hour, with Dimitrov immediately tying the set 4-4.

The Bulgarian kept up the intensity after that, breaking Agut’s serve in the crucial ninth game to go 5-4 up. Serving for the match in the 10th game, there was no looking back for the World No. 20. He ended the match with a love service game to clinch the second set 6-4.

With this result, Dimitrov moves onto to face either Alexander Bublik or Marcos Giron in the third round. Could the Cincinnati Open add another title to his collection?

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