Halle Open: Roberto Bautista Agut stuns Daniil Medvedev to reach semi-final, Jannik Sinner pulls out with leg injury

Roberto Bautista Agut produced an outstanding performance to prevail against top seed Daniil Medvedev 7-5 7-6(3) once again to advance to the semi-final of the Halle Open.

The Spaniard has now won five of the eight matches in which the pair have contested and sends the Russian crashing out in Germany in what is a blow to his confidence ahead of Wimbledon.

Bautista Agut’s reward for a first victory over a top 10 ranked opponent since the first week of 2023 is a semi-final match against Andrey Rublev or Tallon Griekspoor.

“To beat Daniil on this court you have to play very good,” said the No. 8 seed.

“I didn’t feel very good some months this year but I keep working hard.

“I know in tennis sometimes it’s very difficult. There are a lot of things I’m working on and I’m very happy because I played very good tennis.”

It has been a difficult clay court swing for Bautista Agut, but the world No.23 is relieved to be back on grass.

He said: “I’m very happy I could take some days off after Paris and it was a good rest for me because I was really working hard and I needed some good rest. I did some good days of work.”

Indeed, it appears Bautista Agut is much more comfortable on grass than clay and quizzed on the reason for this, the Spaniard said: “I can move well on grass and I think I’m fast and my shots are flat. The most important thing is that I enjoy playing on this surface.”

Medvedev cut a frustrated figure throughout much of the contest as he was second-best to a fired-up Bautista Agut, losing to his opponent in just under two hours.

Meanwhile, Alexander Zverev is also through to the semi-finals after overcoming Nicolas Jarry in straight sets 7-5 6-3.

Zverev will meet Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the semi-final on Saturday.

Bublik claimed his place earlier in the day after Jannik Sinner withdrew hurt in the second set of their quarter-final tie.

Trailing 2-0 in the second set after losing the opener 7-5, Sinner pulled out with an injury to his right leg after sliding to reach a drop shot.

World No. 9 Sinner now faces a race against time to play at Wimbledon.