PARIS (Reuters) – Pablo Carreno Busta won the all-Spanish battle against Davis Cup team mate Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4 6-3 5-7 6-4 on Saturday to reach the French Open fourth round for the second time.
Carreno Busta, seeded 17th, came into the match tied at 2-2 from previous meetings against 10th seed Bautista Agut but had won their most recent showdown at Rotterdam this year.
The U.S. Open semi-finalist, who lost to German Alexander Zverev at Flushing Meadows, took the first two sets with a double break in each before Bautista Agut fought back to take the third.
Carreno Busta was down a break in the fourth set at 4-2 and the match seemed headed for a deciding set but he managed to raise his level and broke Bautista Agut in successive games to seal victory.
“You cannot expect an easy match when you are playing Roberto,” Carreno Busta said in his on-court interview. “We spent a lot of time together, in the pre-season, in the Davis Cup, ATP Cup, we practise a lot.
“I’m playing really, really good, just trying to be aggressive.”
Carreno Busta served strongly and struck 65 winners to set up a clash with German qualifier Daniel Altmaier, ranked 186th, who beat Italian seventh seed Matteo Berrettini 6-2 7-6(5) 6-4.
With the Roland Garros allowing 1,000 people on site, Carreno Busta was glad to see some fans in the stadiums after playing in front of empty stands at the U.S. Open.
“Finally we have the sun here, and the crowd,” he said. “It’s very important for us to have people supporting us.
“After a lot of matches playing in the U.S. without the crowd, it’s a different feeling when you play like this, so thank you very much, everybody.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Ken Ferris)
