Roberto Bautista beats Tennys Sandgren at the 2020 US Open

WHAT HAPPENED: If the 2020 US Open is inevitably shaping up to be Novak Djokovic versus the field, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, a 32-year-old veteran playing some of the best tennis of his career, is a fashionable dark horse pick. The quiet No. 8 seed fittingly just played Djokovic, in a semifinal at the Western & Southern Open last week, and the Spaniard extended the world No. 1 to his very limits in a third-set tiebreak loss.

Prior to that match, Bautista Agut had won his last three hardcourt matches against Djokovic. So if the undefeated Serb’s excellence in Flushing Meadows is to be expected, Bautista Agut perhaps stands as good a chance as any to create chaos.

Chaos, though, is hardly Bautista Agut’s modus operandi. The unassuming Spaniard is the personification of steady and solid. He is neither big nor powerful, but he is a savvy and maddeningly controlled player, with great court instincts and a willingness to work the point. He is what other players know to be a “tough out.”

The American Tennys Sandgren of Tennessee, ranked No. 48, found that out the hard way, going down to Bautista Agut in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6.

In the opening set, the Spaniard broke serve twice and then held at love to close out the set. Bautista Agut looked set to run away with the match in the second, breaking early to go up 2-0, but surrendered the advantage late in the set. The eighth seed then broke Sandgren at 4-4 and rebounded from 0-40 while serving for the set, fighting off six break points to snuff out any remaining hopes the American may have had.

WHAT IT MEANS: In other years, this would have been the kind of first-round matchup that typically draws a boisterous crowd out on Court 11: a tournament dark horse versus the tempestuous American.

Bautista Agut started this truncated year brilliantly, racing to an 8-1 record in January; the Spaniard is an impressive 12-4 on the year. Sandgren, a dangerous unseeded player, himself had an unexpectedly strong result early in the year, reaching his second career Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open ranked No. 100.

Sandgren had his chances against Bautista Agut, but he failed to capitalize and was left castigating himself as he lost point after point with the match on the line. Sandgren was just 1-13 on break-point opportunities in the crucial second set alone (and 2-19 in the match).

MATCH POINT: Bautista Agut has reached one Grand Slam semifinal, at Wimbledon in 2019. Can he fly under the radar and improve upon that result at the 2020 US Open – and be the one to take down Djokovic in the Serb’s quest for Slam No. 18?