Roberto Bautista Agut vs Andrey Rublev: A third win for the Russian on clay?

Roberto Bautista Agut will face Andrey Rublev in the 1/8 final. The men have only played each other twice in 2021. The Spaniard has a slight edge in the contest overall, but we doubt he’ll stand a chance against a motivated Andrey on clay.

Roberto Bautista Agut has not had the best track record on clay. The Spaniard is often famous for being excellent on clay but has some problems on the hard court. In Roberto’s case, it’s the other way round, he’s got the most titles on hard, but his results are worse on clay. Though you can’t say Bautista Agut is doing too badly on clay, more likely. In Monte Carlo, the Spaniard beat Fritz and Paul, lost to Rublev. In Barcelona, he was stronger than Andújar, weaker than Sinner. In Madrid, Roberto beat Cecchinato but lost to Isner. In Rome, the Spaniard, of course, did not lose yet, beating Paul again and leaving the Chilean Garin out. The Spaniard beat them both by a score of 2-0.

Andrey Rublev has played three tournaments during the 2021 clay-court season so far. The most successful event was a tournament in Monte Carlo where the Russian reached the final but lost in the decisive match to Tsitsipas. In Barcelona, it was the third round and a defeat to Sinner, one of the most talented young tennis players. In Madrid, Rublev beat Paul, who you could say loved Bautista Agut, but could not resist the power of Isner’s serve. In Rome, Rublev played one match, beating German Struff in three sets. Andrey lost the first game on a tiebreak but was able to fight back and reach the third round of the Rome Masters.

Bautista Agut is not a very comfortable opponent for Rublev. Andrey is behind Roberto in terms of head-to-head encounters so far, but the Spaniard has not yet beaten the Russian on clay. We believe that this trend will continue between the Spaniard and the Russian, Andrey will have trouble reaching the required result on hard court, while Rublev will continue to beat the Spaniard on clay.

Here are the betting options for the upcoming meeting: H2 (-1.5) for 1.81, Total Over 22.5 for 1.91.