Roberto Bautista Agut vs Borna Coric 8/18/22 Cincinnati Tennis Picks, Predictions, Odds

Roberto Bautista Agut will meet Borna Coric in the Round of 16 of the 2022 Western and Southern Open. The match will be played on Thursday August 18th, 2022 at 2:15pm EST.

Roberto Bautista Agut is the 15th seed here at the Western and Southern Open and boasts a solid 31-12 record on the season. The veteran Spaniard reached the Third Round at the Montreal Open and has a good chance to do better here, entering this match against Borna Coric as the solid favorite. A tough three set win over Francisco Cerundolo was followed by a routine win over Marcos Giron where he controlled the match from the baseline, and he will need to be a bit more aggressive than usual here against Coric who enters with a lot of confidence.

Borna Coric is a former top 20 player who has seen his ranking plummet outside the top 150 due to injuries and loss of form over the past few seasons. However, he had a mockery of that ranking yesterday when he defeated Rafael Nadal in a three set thriller. Yes Nadal was returning after an injury layoff and was rusty but that shouldn’t take much away from Coric, who played a very aggressive and disciplined game to come away with one of the biggest wins of his career, defeating Nadal for a third time. He is the underdog here against Roberto Bautista Agut but will be very confident and and dangerous.

This is looking like another three setter, and I am going with Bautista Agut to win here. Despite Borna Coric’s heroics against Nadal, it is unlikely that he produces a similar level again. It definitely is possible, but the smart money is on a win for the Spanish 15th seed. There is not much turnaround time for the Croatian to recover, and RBA is not going to give him many free points. The overs on games played is a solid option, but back RBA to win here and move on to the Quarter-Finals at the Western and Southern Open.