Simon leads their previous meetings 3-1. Their last match was in September 2014. Simon won on a Tokyo hard court when Bautista Agut retired in the third set. He won his 3 matches against Bautista Agut on hard courts ( 1 was indoors).
Bautista Agut reached the final in Shanghai. He has had a very successful season but his 2 tournaments since Shanghai have been poor. He may have burned himself out or maybe just needed a break. I think we will see him back to form today and there is some value on him as underdog. If Bautista Agut is not back to his very best then I would expect Simon to have a little more motivation. We need to watch the opening few games before getting involved.
Lay Simon if he breaks.
