US Open 2020: Roberto Bautista Agut vs Tennys Sangren preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: Roberto Bautista Agut vs Tennys Sandgren

Date: 31 August 2020

Tournament: US Open 2020

Round: First round (Round of 128)

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York, USA

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Outdoor hardcourt

Prize money: $39,024,000

Match timing: 3 pm EDT, 12:30 am IST

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel / ESPN | India - Star Sports / Hotstar

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Tennys Sandgren preview

Tennys Sandgren is on his way back

World No. 12 Roberto Bautista Agut will be looking to extend his rich vein of form when he takes on the dangerous Tennys Sandgren in his first round match at US Open 2020.

Bautista Agut started his season in fine form, winning his first eight matches before he was upset by Marin Cilic at the Australian Open. The whole tour season was pushed into a sabbatical soon after that due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Spaniard still made the most of his downtime as he got a number of matches under his belt at the Bett1 Aces Open in Germany and Thiem's 7 Exhibition.

The proverbial 'will not lose early, but will not go far' player for most of his career, Bautista Agut produced a strong performance last week at the Cincinnati Masters which suggests he is ready to shed that tag. The Spaniard downed 2019 champ Daniil Medvedev as well as Karen Khachanov to set up a clash with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.

The World No. 12 ran Djokovic close for three long hours, and at one point even served for the match in the deciding set. However, thanks to some extraordinary resilience shown by the Serb, Bautista Agut wasn't able to close out the match and eventually lost it in a tiebreaker.

Tennys Sandgren, just like his Spanish opponent, has played well over the last year and a half. Having previously reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 Australian Open, Sandgren reached the second week of 2019 Wimbledon and also won his maiden ATP title in the same season.

The American would continue his inspiring run at Melbourne this year, where he reached the quarterfinals and had 20-time Major winner Roger Federer on the ropes. Sandgren forced the Swiss to thwart seven match points, before going down in a hard-fought fifth set.

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Tennys Sandgren head-to-head

Roberto Bautista Agut has never played Tennys Sandgren on the tour

The first round match in New York will be the first-ever career meeting between Roberto Bautista Agut and Tennys Sandgren, so the head-to-head currently stands at 0-0.

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Tennys Sandgren prediction

Tennys Sandgren returns a shot at 2020 W&S Open

Roberto Bautista Agut has been producing some strong results lately with a more aggressive and assertive game. The Spaniard swings his racquet with incredible head speed and control these days, almost always finding the deep end of the court with his groundstrokes.

The only facet of the Spaniard's game that wasn't exactly great last week was the serve. That turned out to be particularly troublesome in his match against Novak Djokovic, as he won just 48% of his first serve points in the final set.

Sandgren will try to exploit that flaw in their first-round meeting, using his big return to put Bautista Agut on the defensive. The key for the former World No. 41 would be to keep the exchanges short and avoid getting into backhand crosscourt duels with the Spaniard.

Prediction: Tennys Sandgren to win in five sets.