Abu Dhabi: South African Kevin Anderson defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut authoritatively in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 to clinch the 10th edition of the Mubadala Tennis Championship at the Abu Dhabi International Tennis Complex on Saturday.
“It feels great to win here. I played three good matches and those were quality matches and really looking forward to the start of the season. Everybody was competing hard and we were taken good care here,” said an elated Anderson adding that he would love to come again.
“Definitely I would like to take this form forward into the next season. I would like to thank Mubadala for the quality of players they try to get here. Thanks to the bunch of South Africans who came here to support me today. Good to see tennis thriving over here and hopefully we will see many children who have come here today play on this court.”
Bautista Agut was broken by Anderson in the very first game of the opening set. The hard-serving Anderson again had an opportunity to break Bautista Agut in the fifth but the latter did well to save three break points. The contest then went on serves till the 10th game and Anderson pocketed the first set on the fourth set point he managed.
The second set was a keenly contested affair with Bautista Agut targeting Anderson’s serve straight away.
The 31-year-old was broken in the first game at love but immediately bounced back to win the next by breaking Bautista Agut on the second breakpoint.
Then after going on serves till the 12th game, the match was forced into the tiebreaker which Anderson was in total command winning it 7-0 to seal the set and the match.
Bautista Agut was also satisfied with the opportunity he got in the tournament saying, “Three good matches but Kevin played really well, served aggressive and he deserved to win. I hope I get the chance to come more times here. I had good support and it was good to play some good matches going into new season.”
