By Niall Clarke
- Aljaz Bedene defeats Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(2), 7-6(7)
- Is through to the quarter finals after defeating Daniel Gimeno Traver in the first round
- Bedene will face either Albert Ramos or Fabio Fognini in the last eight.
HAMBURG, GERMANY- British number two Aljaz Bedene is through to the quarter finals of the Bet-at-home open after defeating third seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(2), 7-6(7).
Bedene made quick work of Daniel Gimeno Traver in his opening round match-up, only dropping five games en route to a 6-4, 6-1 victory on Tuesday.
The 26 year old earned a second round place against another Spaniard in the form of Bautista Agut, who had defeated the highly touted 18 year old Borna Coric in round one.
The Brit was a heavy underdog against the third seed ranked 44 places ahead of him in the rankings, and it showed in the early exchanges. Bautista broke in the fourth game to establish a 3-1 lead, though that did not unnerve Bedene, who managed to break back at 4-2 and level the set.
The 26 year old fought off a set point at 6-5 to take the opening set to a tiebreaker, where the Brit would take control. Bautista Agut would not win a point on serve in the breaker as Bedene ran away with it 7-2.
In the ascendency after taking the first set, the Slovenian born Brit would create break point chances on his opponent’s first service game, but the Spaniard would fight them off. Like the first set, we would head to a tiebreaker to decide the second.
This time it would be a lot closer with Bautista Agut creating two set point opportunities at 6-5 and 7-6, but the Spaniard could not convert as Bedene fought to try get this done in straight sets. And so he would, as the Brit would convert his first match point to take the second set tiebreak 9-7.
Bedene will face the winner of the Fabio Fognini vs Albert Ramos match that is currently on going, with a potential semi-final match against Tommy Robredo, Benoit Paire, or Lucas Pouille on the line.
You can follow Bedene’s quarter final match on Friday via the Britwatch live scoring service:
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