Roberto Bautista Agut has taken the first set of his Miami Open presented by Itau semi-final 7-5 on Friday against Jannik Sinner.
The seventh seed, who is chasing his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy, wore his opponent down from the baseline in extended rallies to extract 26 unforced errors. Bautista Agut claimed two service breaks during the 52-minute opener.
The World No. 12 is aiming to become the fifth Spanish player to reach the championship match in Miami, and follow in the footsteps of Sergi Bruguera (1997), Carlos Moya (2003), Rafael Nadal (2005, ’08, ’11, ’14 and ’17) and David Ferrer (2013). Bautista Agut has already reached championship matches this year in Montpellier (l. to Goffin) and Doha (l. to Basilashvili).
Sinner is attempting to reach his first Masters 1000 final. The 19-year-old, who is the eighth teenager to reach the Miami semi-finals, defeated Bautista Agut in three sets in the pair’s opening ATP Head2Head encounter in Dubai two weeks ago.
In the second semi-final, fourth seed Andrey Rublev will meet Hubert Hurkacz of Poland. Hurkacz won his only previous match against Rublev in three sets at last year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.