European Open: Bautista Agut wins first indoor title in eight years

Roberto Bautista Agut won the European Open final by beating No 5 seed Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-1 at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp on Sunday afternoon.

The start of the match was all one-way traffic for the Spaniard. He lost just a singular point in his first four service games, broke Lehecka in the fourth game of the match, and took a commanding 5-2 lead. Baustista Agut was simply flawless, dominating with his usual lung-busting extended rallies, whilst not being afraid to inject some power and pace into his shots to finish points sooner. The Czech, who came back to the tour in Cincinnati following a serious back injury, is not one to lie down easily, and this match was no exception. He broke in the nick of time with a few punishing backhands, and got the match back on serve for 5-4 with his trusted serve looking more steady.

When it came to crunch time, however, a few costly groundstroke errors whilst seeking to take the first set to a tiebreak would prove fatal, and Bautista Agut broke to take a crucial first set 7-5.

In the second, the Spaniard looked more like the player who started the final, losing just six points on serve, and breaking Lehecka on two occasions, before serving out the match with ease for a 7-5 6-1 win.

A a clearly emotional Bautista Agut stated, after the victory:

“This title is very special, I broke my foot last year and I had to fight so hard this year. I played so many qualifying matches, went down to No 120 in the world, but I was going to practice with a smile on my face and trying to be a better player. So, I deserved one week like this one a lot.

I’m very proud of myself, it took me a while, but I have my first title here.”

Coming into the event, Bautista Agut was on a 27-month title drought, with it not looking at all likely that this streak would come to an end anytime soon. However, the European Open, in the end, proved to the special week that he needed, winning his first title since Kitzbuhel in 2022, and his first in indoor conditions since Sofia back in 2016.

Bautista Agut, ranked No 60, defeated French qualifier Luca Van Assche (6-2, 6-1), Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 6 seed (7-6 (2), 6-4), Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 3 seed (3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6)) and Frenchman Hugo Gaston (6-3, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Antwerp Open.

Earlier in the tournament, Lehecka, ranked No 33, beat Spaniard Jaume Munar (6-1, 6-4), German Daniel Altmaier (6-4, 6-3), Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the second seed (6-4, 6-4) and American Marcos Giron, the No 8 seed (6-3, 4-6, 6-2).