Roberto Bautista Agut Wins First Title in Over Two Years at 2024 European Open
The Spaniard contested the final against Jiří Lehečka of the Czech Republic.
Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, 36, defeated Jiří Lehečka of the Czech Republic, 22, to win the Men’s Singles title at the 2024 European Open in Antwerp, Belgium (an ATP 250 event). The score in the final was 7-5 and 6-1 in favor of Bautista Agut.
This was the fourth match Bautista Agut and Lehečka have played against each other on the ATP Tour - with Bautista Agut leading 2-1 in their prior meetings. Today’s victory was the first title Bautista Agut has won on the 2024 ATP Tour and the twelfth title of his career in single’s competition. Notably, this was the first title he has claimed since prevailing at the Austrian Open in July 2022. Moreover, this was the ninth title he has taken from a hard court event and his eleventh from a 250-level tournament. And finally, he becomes the first player representing Spain to win the title in Antwerp since the event joined the tour in 2016.
Heading into this tournament, Lehečka was ranked as the Number 33 tennis player on the 2024 ATP Tour, while Bautista Agut carried the Number 60 designation. By winning in Antwerp, Bautista Agut has received 250 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Lehečka has picked up 165 points.
Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan (No. 28) was the tournament’s reigning champion. This year though, he opted not to compete anywhere this week. Meanwhile, Lehečka was the event’s fifth seed while Bautista Agut entered the main draw as an unseeded player.
Bautista Agut arrived in the final after winning against qualifier Luca Van Assche of France (No. 119), sixth seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina (No. 35), third seed Félix Auger-Aliassime of Canada (No. 21), and Hugo Gaston of France (No. 77). This was the 23rd ATP final he has competed in.
In the other half of the main draw, Lehečka defeated Jaume Munar of Spain (No. 65), Daniel Altmaier of Germany (No. 84), second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece (No. 11), and eighth seed Marcos Giron of the United States (No. 47). This was the third ATP final he has contested.
The revised rankings for the 2024 ATP Tour will be officially released on Monday, October 21. The tour will then play one tournament from October 21-27: the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland (an ATP 500 event) and the Vienna Open in Vienna, Austria (an ATP 500 event). Both competitions will be played on hard courts.
Auger-Aliassime is the two-time reigning champion at the Swiss Indoors. He is looking to defend the title as the event’s eighth seed this year - facing off against Sebastián Báez of Argentina (No. 27) in the first round. Elsewhere, Jannik Sinner of Italy (No. 1) is the reigning champion at the Vienna Open. He has decided not to compete anywhere this week.