2021 ATP Qatar Open Final Preview: Bautista Agut vs Nikoloz Basilashvili

After WTA had its run the ATP is visiting Qatar with the 2021 edition of the Qatar Open running from March 8th - 14th featuring the return of Roger Federer.

A very strong and exciting ATP Qatar Open is coming to a close on Saturday with the Men's Singles final. It will be Roberto Bautista Agut vs Nikoloz Basilashvili in a final where we have two players we did not expect to see here. Neither of them was slated to reach the final but both of them delivered strong performances to be in the final.

Bautista Agut was exceptional throughout the week beating some stellar competition to reach the final. Beating Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev back to back is a hard feat yet he managed to do it. The Spaniard won this event in 2019 and it's clear he enjoys the conditions and court which should give him an edge tomorrow.

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His opponent was no less impressive this week as he has struggled well over a year to have any kind of result. It's been a tough year for Nikoloz in his private life and that affected his on-court results. This week we saw none of that and he scored some impressive wins especially over Federer. Both his victories have question marks over them even if his game has not.

The H2H heavily favors Bautista Agut with 4-1 to him but Basilashvili's only victory came in Dubai on a court similar to this one and in conditions pretty much identical to his one. Even so, the level Bautista has displayed this week will be hard to match for Nikoloz despite his resurgence this week. A slight chance is there but he will need to deliver his best effort yet in order to win this one.

2021 ATP Qatar Open Schedule of Play:

Saturday, March 13th:

14:00 Bautista-Agut R. (Esp) - Basilashvili N. (Geo)  

Friday, March 12th:

The ATP Qatar Open 2021 is back on Friday with two interesting matches for the semifinals. The programme will start much later than previous days at 16:00 CET and it will be Roberto Bautista Agut against Andrey Rublev. The Russian advanced to the semifinals without playing a single point making history in the process.

He will look to make history by winning this event for a 2nd consecutive year but he will need to win tomorrow. They played 5 times so far with Bautista leading 3-2 but the two most recent ones were by Rublev. He will be the favourite considering the extent of rest and the gruesome match Bautista played yesterday against Thiem.

The 2nd semifinal will start the first one finishes and it will be Fritz vs Basilashvili. The American has put forward strong performances for two consecutive rounds but he also played well over three hours in those matches. That might prove key against the fresher Basilasvhili who played a strong event and even better match against Federer.

If he brings that game today as well he will have a decent chance especially if the match goes on longer than Fritz would have liked. They played once four years ago and Fritz won that match in three sets. If he plays well and feels fresh he should win but fitness will be a key tomorrow.

16:00 Bautista-Agut R. (Esp) - Rublev A. (Rus)
17:30 Fritz T. (Usa) - Basilashvili N. (Geo)

Thursday, March 11th:

The Qatar Open continues on Thursday with the quarterfinals on the program. We have four interesting matches on the schedule with some big names such as Federer, Thiem, Shapovalov. It will kick off with Shapovalov versus Fritz at 12:30. Both of them played well but a gruesome three-set match for Fritz the day earlier might prove difficult to overcome. He is also 0-3 against Shapovalov in his career which won't help. At 14:00 we will see a reprisal of the Rotterdam final as Rublev will take on Fucsovics. In that final Rublev dominated and won in straight sets and a similar thing is expected here as well.

At 16:00 CET we will see Roger Federer again as he will take on Basilashvili. The Georgian player is putting forward a strong showing here but his opposition has not been the best. Federer looked very good against a strong Evans but it took him well over two hours to win that. He will look to end this quickly against Basilashvili but will he remains a question. The final match of the day is a banger between Thiem and Bautista Agut. Thiem had some early struggles against Karatsev but he settled nicely to come back and win. Bautista has been solid as always but Thiem is in another league than Opelka or Bublik whom he defeated. He does lead the H2H 3-1 but the most recent match in 2018 was won by Thiem.

12:30 Fritz T. (Usa) - Shapovalov D. (Can)
14:00 Rublev A. (Rus) - Fucsovics M. (Hun)
16:00 Basilashvili N. (Geo) - Federer R. (Sui)
17:30 Thiem D. (Aut) - Bautista-Agut R. (Esp)

Wednesday, March 10th:

The 2021 ATP Qatar Open continues on Wednesday with 8 matches on the schedule featuring some of the best including Roger Federer officially making his return to tennis. The programme as per usual will start at 12:30 with Andrey Rublev taking on Richard Gasquet. After them, we will see Alexander Bublik take on Roberto Bautista Agut. A Canadian clash will take place at 14:00 CET between Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil. Dominic Thiem will also play today and he will take on Aslan Karatsev.

A bit later in the day, we will see David Goffin take on Taylor Fritz while Nikoloz Basilasvhili will play Malek Jaziri. And then at 16:00, the most anticipated match of the year as Roger Federer is set to make his return to the ATP Tour. It has been over a year since his match and today he will play Dan Evans. A tough opponent for Roger but also a very good measuring stick for him moving forward. The final match of the day will take place at 17:30 between Marton Fucsovics and Lloyd Harris.

12:30 Rublev A. (Rus) - Gasquet R. (Fra)
14:00 Bublik A. (Kaz) - Bautista-Agut R. (Esp)
14:00 Pospisil V. (Can) - Shapovalov D. (Can)
14:00 Thiem D. (Aut) - Karatsev A. (Rus)
15:30 Goffin D. (Bel) - Fritz T. (Usa)
15:30 Jaziri M. (Tun) - Basilashvili N. (Geo)
16:00 Evans D. (Gbr) - Federer R. (Sui)
17:30 Fucsovics M. (Hun) - Harris G. (Rsa)

Tuesday, March 9th:

A six-match 2nd day at the 2021 ATP Qatar Open is on the programme on Tuesday headlined by Wawrinka and Goffin. Similar to yesterday play will start at 12:30 CET with two interesting matches that will saw Chardy take on Evans while O'Connell will play Pospisil. Chardy played spectacular tennis in Rotterdam so it will be interesting to see if he keeps that up. After them, Gombos will take on Jaziri in a matchup of veterans. Rotterdam finalist Fucsovics will debut as well taking on Lajovic who had a huge upset win over Medvedev in Rotterdam.

The afternoon part of the day will see two sensational matchups featuring some of the best. First, at 16:00 CET Wawrinka will take on Harris from South Africa. Wawrinka is eager for a good result and these fast courts will suit his game well. The final match of the day will be between Goffin and Krajinovic. Goffin finally started playing better but playing Krajinovic is never easy so this will be a good test for the Belgian.

12:30 Chardy J. (Fra) - Evans D. (Gbr)
12:30 O'Connell C. (Aus) - Pospisil V. (Can)
14:00 Gombos N. (Svk) - Jaziri M. (Tun)
15:30 Lajovic D. (Srb) Fucsovics M. (Hun)
16:00 Harris G. (Rsa) - Wawrinka S. (Sui)
17:30 Goffin D. (Bel) - Krajinovic F. (Srb)

Monday, March 8th:

While the world is awaiting the return of Roger Federer to the courts the event where he will make his return will kick off with some interesting 1st round matchups on Monday. The 6-match schedule will feature some very good players such as Roberto Bautista Agut, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Bublik and Lorenzo Sonego. The action starts at 12:00 CET with John Millman taking on Nikoloz Basilashvili. A bit later we will see Alexander Bublik take on Ramkumar Ramanathan.

At the same time, we will see future superstars Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Sonego battle it out. They both enjoy playing on fast courts so this will be a proper banger. In the afternoon hours, we will see another season veteran Richard Gasquet take on Blaz Rola. The final match of the day is scheduled to start at 17:30 and it will be Roberto Bautista Agut vs Reilly Opelka. The American posses a devastating serve which will be hard to handle especially on the super-fast Doha courts.

12:30 Basilashvili N. (Geo) - Millman J. (Aus)
12:30 Zayid M. S. (Qat) - Karatsev A. (Rus)
14:00 Ramanathan R. (Ind) - Bublik A. (Kaz)
14:00 Sonego L. (Ita) - Fritz T. (Usa)
16:00 Gasquet R. (Fra) - Rola B. (Slo)
17:30 Opelka R. (Usa) - Bautista-Agut R. (Esp)