Second-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut defeated third-seeded Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday to win the Qatar ExxonMobil Open title at Doha, Qatar.
It is the 10th career title for the 33-year-old Bautista Agut and his second triumph in Doha, previously winning in 2019. The two players also met in the 2021 title match when Basilashvili prevailed in straight sets.
Basilashvili had eight aces in this year’s final while Bautista Agut had none. The Georgian committed three double faults.
Open 13 Provence
Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime racked up 15 aces while outlasting Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the semifinals at Marseille, France.
The third-seeded Auger-Aliassime will face second-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev in the championship match. Rublev scored a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over France’s Benjamin Bonzi in the other semifinal.
Rublev had a 9-3 edge in aces in the win over Bonzi. He now faces a red-hot Auger-Aliassime, who won his first career title last week in Rotterdam.
(Field Level Media)
