Australian Open: Bautista Agut comes back to reach third round

Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the No 24 seed, overhauled American qualifier Brandon Holt 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to advance to the third round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

Bautista Agut, ranked No 25, will face the winner of the match between Andy Murray and Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis next.

“I think it was a good comeback,” the Spaniard said afterwards. “He really started playing unbelievable tennis. And I think was a bit unfair the score. I was 6-4, 2-0 down, and I felt that I was not doing bad things, but sometimes when the opponent plays good, you need to wait your time. I think I wanted to keep going. I fought until the end, and I could make a good comeback.”

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Tennis Majors

Ahead of his victory, the 34-year-old Spaniard won against Portuguese João Sousa (6-3, 6-2, 6-2).

Holt, ranked No 215, beat Australian qualifier Aleksandar Vukic (6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3) in the previous round.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Andy Murray vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Enzo Couacaud vs. Novak Djokovic
• Adrian Mannarino vs. Alex De Minaur: thursday
• Pablo Carreno Busta vs. Benjamin Bonzi: thursday
• Holger Rune (9) beat Maxime Cressy: 7-5, 6-4, 6-4
• Grigor Dimitrov (27) beat Laslo Djere: 6-3, 6-2, 6-0
• Michael Mmoh (LL) beat Alexander Zverev (12): 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2
• Alexei Popyrin (WC) beat Taylor Fritz (8): 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-2
• Ugo Humbert beat Denis Kudla (LL): 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4
• J.J. Wolf beat Diego Schwartzman (23): 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
• Ben Shelton beat Nicolas Jarry (Q): 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Jenson Brooksby beat Casper Ruud (2): 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Emil Ruusuvuori: 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3
• Tommy Paul beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (30): 6-2, 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4
• Daniel Evans (25) beat Jeremy Chardy: 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Cameron Norrie (11) beat Constant Lestienne: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Jiri Lehecka beat Christopher Eubanks (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Botic Van De Zandschulp (32): 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Sebastian Korda (29) beat Yosuke Watanuki (Q): 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (3) beat Rinky Hijikata (WC): 6-3, 6-0, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (10) beat Lorenzo Sonego: 3-6, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Denis Shapovalov (20) beat Taro Daniel: 6-3, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Francisco Cerundolo (28) beat Corentin Moutet: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5
• Yoshihito Nishioka (31) beat Dalibor Svrcina (Q): 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
• Daniil Medvedev (7) beat John Millman (WC): 7-5, 6-2, 6-2
• Marton Fucsovics beat Lloyd Harris: 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4
• Karen Khachanov (18) beat Jason Kubler (WC): 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
• Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Juncheng Shang (Q): 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Mackenzie McDonald beat Rafael Nadal (1): 6-4, 6-4, 7-5
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (6) beat Alex Molcan: 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
• Jannik Sinner (15) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 6-3, 6-2, 6-2