US Open 2020: Roberto Bautista Agut vs Vasek Pospisil preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: Roberto Bautista Agut vs Vasek Pospisil

Date: 5 September 2020

Tournament: US Open 2020

Round: Third round (Round of 32)

Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York, USA

Category: Grand Slam

Surface: Outdoor hardcourt

Prize money: $39,024,000

Match timing: 12.30 pm EDT, 10 IST

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

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Vasek Pospisil preview

Eighth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut will face unseeded Canadian Vasek Pospisil on Saturday in the third round of the 2020 US Open.

Roberto Bautista Agut continued his good run of form in New York by beating Miomir Kecmanovic in the second round in four sets. Precise and unerring as ever, Bautista Agut broke his opponent once in each of the sets that he won and held on to his own serve to close out the match.

The Spaniard had lost in the opening round of the US Open the previous two years. In that context, getting back to winning ways at a Slam being played on his preferred surface should give him a huge boost in confidence.

The World No. 11 now looks to enter the second week in New York for the third time in his career, and for the first time since 2015. But he has the supremely impressive Vasek Pospisil standing in his way.

Vasek Pospisil got a career redeeming win over his compatriot Raonic

Pospisil pulled off the biggest upset of the men's draw so far in the second round. He sent his compatriot and last week's Western & Southern Open finalist, the red-hot Milos Raonic, packing in four sets.

Pospisil's first serve was reliable as ever, winning him free points at will. But what impressed the most was his second serve performance; he won 61% of the points on his second serve compared to just 45% by Raonic.

Pospisil has already produced his career-best US Open performance by reaching the third round. But it goes without saying that he would be raring to extend his run further by entering the second week.

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Vasek Pospisil head-to-head

The head-to-head between Roberto Bautista Agut and Vasek Pospisil currently stands at 3-0 in favor of the Spaniard.

All three of their previous meetings came in best-of-three-set match-ups. Bautista Agut won two of those in straights, with only the Shanghai 2014 match going three sets.

Roberto Bautista Agut vs Vasek Pospisil prediction

Roberto Bautista Agut is one of the most complicated opponents to play on tour. The physical and mental pressures he brings to the court is often too much to handle for players who are inconsistent from the baseline.

The extremely flat but deep nature of the Spaniard's groundstrokes provides no pace for the opponent to work with. Many of them struggle to maintain their rhythm in the rallies, and end up leaking unforced errors.

To add to that, the 32-year-old seems to have worked really hard on his forehand in recent times. The improvement on the shot has been visible throughout the Flushing Meadows double header.

Agut is one of the toughest competitors on tour

Vasek Pospisil, on the other hand, is a big server who likes to keep points as short as possible and win most of them with a strong first strike. The Canadian will be at a disadvantage as soon as he gets into a rally lasting more than five shots with Bautista Agut.

Pospisil's best bet would be holding his serve throughout the first two sets and triumphing in tiebreaks, where he'd understandably have the advantage.

Prediction: Roberto Bautista Agut to win in four sets.