Roberto Bautista-Agut v Guido Pella: Preview of the Wimbledon 2019 men’s quarter final
23rd seed Roberto Bautista-Agut will face off with 26th seeded Guido Pella in an unlikely quarter final matchup.
The two players have met twice before, with the Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut winning on both occasions. Their first meeting was their only Grand Slam contest, coming at the 2017 Australian Open in the first round. The 31 year old from Castellon De La Plana smashed Pella 6-3 6-1 6-1.
Before 2019 Bautista Agut had never been in a Grand Slam quarter final, falling in all nine of his fourth round matches across all four Slams. This year however saw a change of fortune for the 22nd ranked Spaniard when he made the Australian Open quarter final, beating Cilic in a five set thriller. Young gun Stefanos Tsitsipas beat him in his maiden quarter final across four close sets.
Now appearing in a second Slam quarter final, Bautista Agut is bidding to become the 6th Spanish man in history to reach the Wimbledon semi finals. He would also be only the second since Manuel Orantes in 1972, with Nadal being the other.
En route to the semi final Bautista-Agut is the only player not to drop a set in his first four rounds. His straight sets victories have been Peter Gojowczyk, 10th seed Karen Khachanov and 28th seed Benoit Paire. In the second round he went through after Steve Darcis retired at two sets down.
26th ranked Guido Pella is looking to join compatriots David Nalbandian and Juan Martin Del Potro to become the third man from Argentina to make a Wimbledon semi final. Prior to the competition Pella had never been to a fourth round in a Grand Slam, and now finds himself in his first quarter final. His best performance at SW19 came last year when he upset 2017 runner up Marin Cilic from two sets down.
Playing only his fourth Wimbledon draw this year, he has had a gruelling journey to the quarter. He battled to a four sets victory over Marius Copil in round one, before winning a five setter against former Eastbourne champion Andreas Seppi. In round three Pella knocked out the previous year’s runner up for a successive year, as he defeated Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-3 7-6. He recorded his third career comeback from two sets down against Milos Raonic in the fourth round.
The winner of this match will face either world number one Novak Djokovic, or 21st seed David Goffin for a place in the final,
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