Spain-Romania
The man from Castellón gives the first point to Spain without complications in the qualifying round prior to the final phase of the Davis Cup
Spain’s tie against Romania could not have started in a better way. Roberto Bautista started the crossover with a comfortable victory against Gabi Adrian Boitan by 6-3 and 6-1. The one from Castellón, as expected, had no problems against a rival many steps below his own. The Romanian, number 721 in the world, has never played an ATP match. Not even Challenger level. At 22 years old, he has barely played games in Futures and that, for a top 15 like Bautista, was a piece of candy.
The resistance of Boitan, who sought to do different things by going up to the net a lot, lasted five games, which took Bautista to break his serve. He started an escalation of games that allowed him to sign up eight in a row. He put a slab impossible to lift for Boitan, who gave in to the push of Bautista, a much superior rival, and the atmosphere of the Roman Club of Marbella, which, despite being a Friday morning, presented a good start.
The meeting also helped Bautista get rid of the bad taste in his mouth from his last visit to this arena. In 2018, in the first round tie against Great Britain, the then semi-unknown Cameron Norrie came from two sets down on clay on this very court. Physically injured, Bautista delivered one of his worst games in the competition, although it had no consequences for Spain, which went through the round without problems.
Now Carlos Alcaraz will have the opportunity to leave Spain 2-0 at the end of the first day of competition. His rival will be the Romanian server Marius Copil. If Spain does not close the tie tomorrow in the doubles, Bautista could play again on Sunday against Copil himself, Romania’s number one.
