ATP Cup: Roberto Bautista Agut Leads Spain To Crushing Win Over Chile

ATP Cup: Roberto Bautista Agut barely broke a sweat in the 6-0, 6-3 win over Christian Garin at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, ensuring Spain won their Group A tie on day one of the season-opening tournament.

Roberto Bautista Agut got Spain's New Year off to a perfect start Saturday with a crushing ATP Cup win over Chilian world number 17 Christian Garin as he spearheads the team in Rafael Nadal's absence. The 33-year-old, ranked two places below Garin, barely broke a sweat in the 6-0, 6-3 win at the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, ensuring Spain won their Group A tie on day one of the season-opening tournament.

"I played a very solid game, good rhythm and good speed," he said. "I'm very happy because I won my point for the team."

Bautista Agut, a nine-time ATP Tour titlist, was part of the Nadal-led Spain team that made the final at the inaugural teams event in 2020, when they were beaten by Novak Djokovic's Serbia.

He is the lead singles player this time after 20-time Grand Slam champion Nadal opted to play an Australian Open lead-up event in Melbourne instead.

Whether Nadal would make it to Australia at all was in doubt after he tested positive for the coronavirus after an exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi last month.