It’s been an incredible week of tennis at the ATP Qatar Open in Doha. The level of play has been outstanding and we’re down to just two competitors competing for the title: Nikoloz Basilashvili and Roberto Bautista Agut. This is a rematch from last year’s final, which saw Basilashvili win in straight sets.
Who will win this epic final and who will come up one match short on their journey to the Doha crown? I give my best guess!
ATP Doha Final Prediction
Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Roberto Bautista Agut
Head to Head:
Nikoloz Basilashvili has played incredible tennis in Doha, much improved from how he fared at the start of the season. The Georgian was 0-6 on the year coming into Doha, but has found his rhythm from the baseline and is hitting a very clean ball.
In Basilashvili’s most recent match in the semifinals against Arthur Rinderknech, Basilashvili returned the Frenchman’s huge serves with ease, winning 48% of his return points. Basilashvili’s first serve was also firing, as he won 84% of them and wasn’t broken all match.
Roberto Bautista Agut is playing his best tennis of the year so far in Doha this week. After losing three games combined to Andy Murray and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Bautista Agut did exceptionally well to weather the storm when taking on Karen Khachanov. Khachanov was on fire in the first set, but Bautista Agut hung in there, played with consistent depth, and eventually turned the match around to win in three sets.
Bautista Agut won 2/3 break points he saw on the Khachanov serve while saving 10/12 break points on his serve, including 7/7 after the first set. It was a clutch performance from the Spaniard.
Bautista Agut leads the head to head 3-2, although Basilashvili won the Doha final last year in their most recent meeting in straight sets. However, Bautista Agut is playing much better than in last year’s event, as he is an absolute wall from the baseline at the moment and Basilashvili will find it hard to hit through him.
While there will be times where Basilashvili’s firepower and clean ball striking allow him to make some headway in this match, Bautista Agut is just too solid at the moment.
Roberto Bautista Agut will be your 2022 Doha champion!
Prediction: Bautista Agut in 3
Main Photo from Getty.
