Roberto Bautista Agut Beats Damir Dzumhur to Win 2017 Winston-Salem Open Final

Roberto Bautista Agut earned his second singles title of the 2017 season with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Damir Dzumhur in the 2017 Winston-Salem Open final on Saturday.           

Coming into the tournament as the No. 1 seed, Bautista Agut lived up to his ranking throughout the week in North Carolina. The 29-year-old won each of his first four matches in straight sets, with Taylor Fritz taking him to a tiebreak in the second set of the quarterfinals. 

Bautista Agut lost to Pablo Carreno Busta in the final of last year's Winston-Salem Open, and following the quarterfinals, he said the experience from 2016 was helping his performance this time around.

"It gives you confidence that you can play well, you play the final the year before," he said, per Jay Spivey of the Winston-Salem Journal. "So it makes me feel more comfortable and with more confidence than I played the year before."

This was Bautista Agut's second tournament final of the 2017 season and his first since winning the Aircel Chennai Open on Jan. 8. 

Dzumhur came to play early in his first-ever ATP final, storming back with two game wins in the first set after Bautista Agut took a 4-2 lead. In large part, he kept himself alive thanks to saving five of six break-point opportunities against him. 

This moment meant a great deal to Dzumhur. He expressed excitement about playing for an ATP tournament title after defeating Kyle Edmund 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinal Friday. 

"It's going to be a big thing for me, for my country, as the only player in the Top 100 making great results. I think everybody in Bosnia is still awake and watching me, which makes me really proud for my country," Dzumhur said, per the official ATP World Tour website.

With the pressure on Bautista Agut following Dzumhur's attempted comeback, he responded by winning the last two games of the first set. Neither player dominated early, as they combined for zero aces and one double fault from Dzumhur in the opening set. 

After needing approximately 50 minutes to win the first set, Bautista Agut appeared to find his groove at the start of the second. He hit two aces en route to taking a 3-0 advantage, putting the onus back on Dzumhur to respond. 

A quick break gave Dzumhur time to catch his breath. He challenged Bautista Agut by winning the next three games, leaving the top seed to search for answers as he tried to close out the match before it went to a winner-takes-all third set. 

Bautista Agut answered the bell one more time, though Dzumhur didn't go quietly. The Spaniard had a chance to close the match holding serve, up 5-3 in the second set, but Dzumhur was able to break it and keep a sliver of hope alive. 

Instead, though, Dzumhur received a taste of his own medicine. Bautista Agut broke his opponent's serve to win the tournament.

The victory also serves as a momentum boost for Bautista Agut heading into the U.S. Open, which starts Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. His first-round opponent in the year's final Grand Slam tournament is Andreas Seppi, who upset Nick Kyrgios in the second round at the Australian Open in January.

Bautista Agut has never advanced past the fourth round of any Grand Slam event in his career. The U.S. Open field is wide-open this year after Andy Murray announced Saturday he had to withdraw from the tournament because of a hip injury. 

Stan Wawrinka, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic will also miss the U.S. Open because of injuries. 

Bautista Agut could be a player who takes advantage of the weakened field in Flushing Meadows, New York. His impressive showing at Winston-Salem throughout the week, capped off with Saturday's win, may provide the necessary springboard for bigger things to come.