Game plan

Roberto Bautista Agut v Alexandre Muller

Every number combines what Roberto Bautista Agut does well with what Alexandre Muller allows, each measured against the tour average and shrunk toward it when the sample is thin. Flip perspective

Forecast

Roberto Bautista Agut wins, best of 3 90%90%: 73%–97% · best of 5: 94%

Serve points won 69.1% / 58.9% Roberto / Alexandre · tour 63.4%

Strengths only, no similarity priors 87%serve 68.4% / 59.3%

Each player's serve and return strength is fitted against every opponent they were charted against, so a record built on weak opponents counts for less. At least one of them is no longer active or has too little charted in the last three seasons, so both are compared on their careers. The result is then nudged by Roberto Bautista Agut's record against Alexandre Muller's tactical lookalikes and in their charted head-to-heads (lookalikes: +3.2 on serve, +1.7 on return vs expectation (868 points)). A game-by-game Markov chain turns point odds into match odds; the 90% range covers the uncertainty in the two strengths, not the nudges. Charted matches lean toward big events, so treat this as a scouting estimate, not a betting line.

Head to head, per 100 shots

Career	Roberto	Alexandre
Direction choice	+0.03 ±0.06 better than 65%	−0.14 ±0.16 better than 20%
Shot selection	+0.08 ±0.08 better than 62%	−0.44 ±0.31 better than 14%
Execution	+1.23 ±0.28 better than 98%	−0.70 ±0.65 better than 36%
Points left on the table	2.30 ±0.09 lower than 85%	2.74 ±0.37 lower than 36%

Each player's career against an average tour player in the same position, adjusted for opponent strength, with a 90% margin (shots clustered by match). Points left on the table is the gap to the best-value direction for the same stroke, so lower is better. Percentiles are within each player's own tour. A side is highlighted only when the gap is larger than the margin on the difference.

Serve plan

The share of points the server wins when a first serve lands in that direction (hover a rate for its 90% interval; ± is the 90% margin). "Matchup" combines the server's rate with how this returner handles that serve. "Optimal" is the mix that wins most against this returner once they start reading a habit, at the response measured across the tour, and only within the range servers' habits actually vary. The gain over the current mix is how exploitable that mix is.

Roberto Bautista Agut serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Roberto wins	v Alexandre	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	45%	70%	79%	76.7%±5.6	58% ▲
Body	9%	64%	62%	62.9%±11.2	0% ▼
T	47%	72%	80%	77.4%±6.2	42% ▼

Optimal v Alexandre Muller: +0.7±0.7 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving T every time would read +1.6 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Roberto wins	v Alexandre	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	56%	70%	79%	76.1%±6.0	69% ▲
Body	9%	61%	71%	68.5%±11.6	0% ▼
T	36%	72%	75%	75.5%±6.9	31% ▼

Optimal v Alexandre Muller: +0.6±0.7 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix, inside the 90% margin. Serving wide every time would read +0.9 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Alexandre Muller serving

Deuce court

1st serve	Now	Alexandre wins	v Roberto	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	49%	65%	74%	66.6%±6.0	62% ▲
Body	12%	55%	60%	51.2%±11.0	0% ▼
T	39%	64%	76%	65.0%±7.1	38%

Optimal v Roberto Bautista Agut: +0.9±0.8 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix. Serving wide every time would read +2.5 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Ad court

1st serve	Now	Alexandre wins	v Roberto	Matchup	Optimal
Wide	46%	67%	77%	71.3%±6.1	59% ▲
Body	11%	55%	53%	45.0%±11.8	0% ▼
T	44%	63%	72%	62.8%±6.9	41% ▼

Optimal v Roberto Bautista Agut: +0.9±0.8 per 100 first serves (faults included) over the current mix. Serving wide every time would read +6.5 per 100 first serves in before the returner adjusts.

Return plan

Value of each return, in points per 100 returns against an average return of the same serve (direction, court, surface): the tour's result with that return, the returner's own edge with it, and what this server gives up when it comes back to that side. Returns with no charted direction are left out, so values compare with each other rather than with zero. Depth isn't a choice here: missed returns have no depth. Serve quality isn't charted, so a block through the middle partly reflects the serve that forced it.

Roberto Bautista Agut returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Alexandre	Value
FH through the middle	47%	+4.3	+2.4	+2.4	+9.1±2.3
FH down the line	19%	+1.7	+2.4	+1.1	+5.2±4.0
FH crosscourt	15%	+5.5	+1.8	−0.7	+6.6±4.1
FH slice through the middle	13%	−4.2	+0.4	−0.3	−4.1±2.0
FH slice crosscourt	3%	−4.3	+0.3	−1.9	−5.9±2.4

Lean FH through the middle: +3.6±1.6 per 100 returns v the current mix (1224 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Alexandre	Value
BH through the middle	42%	+6.4	+2.7	+0.6	+9.8±2.2
BH crosscourt	20%	+8.8	+2.4	+1.3	+12.5±3.2
BH slice through the middle	17%	−4.2	−0.1	±0.0	−4.3±2.3
BH down the line	11%	+4.2	+4.9	+0.2	+9.3±4.3
BH slice crosscourt	6%	+0.5	−1.2	+0.7	+0.1±2.7

Lean BH crosscourt: +6.0±2.8 per 100 returns v the current mix (1218 returns charted)

2nd serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Alexandre	Value
FH through the middle	48%	−3.5	+0.4	+1.2	−1.9±2.7
FH crosscourt	24%	−0.2	+0.7	−0.6	−0.1±4.4
FH down the line	24%	−1.8	+0.9	−0.6	−1.6±4.7
FH slice through the middle	4%	−12.7	±0.0	±0.0	−12.7±1.3

Lean FH crosscourt: +1.7±3.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (289 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Alexandre	Value
BH through the middle	48%	−2.9	+0.6	+1.4	−0.8±2.1
BH crosscourt	33%	+1.0	+1.7	+2.4	+5.1±2.8
BH down the line	12%	−0.2	+0.8	−2.1	−1.5±4.6
FH through the middle	3%	−2.9	−0.4	+1.2	−2.0±2.4
FH inside-out	2%	+1.0	±0.0	−0.6	+0.3±3.5

Lean BH crosscourt: +4.1±2.2 per 100 returns v the current mix (961 returns charted)

Alexandre Muller returning

1st serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Roberto	Value
FH through the middle	41%	+4.3	+0.4	+2.6	+7.3±2.4
FH slice through the middle	19%	−4.2	+0.4	+2.1	−1.8±2.2
FH down the line	17%	+1.7	−1.7	+4.3	+4.3±3.9
FH crosscourt	13%	+5.5	−3.1	−1.2	+1.3±3.6
FH slice down the line	6%	−4.3	+1.1	−0.1	−3.3±2.8

Lean FH through the middle: +4.1±1.7 per 100 returns v the current mix (169 returns charted)

1st serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Roberto	Value
BH through the middle	47%	+6.4	+1.0	+1.2	+8.6±2.2
BH crosscourt	24%	+8.8	−1.3	+2.2	+9.7±3.0
BH slice through the middle	14%	−4.2	−2.4	+3.1	−3.5±2.1
BH down the line	12%	+4.2	+1.1	+1.3	+6.7±4.2
BH slice crosscourt	3%	+0.5	−1.6	+1.1	±0.0±2.3

Lean BH crosscourt: +3.0±2.6 per 100 returns v the current mix (178 returns charted)

2nd serve to the forehand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Roberto	Value
FH through the middle	40%	−3.5	−0.8	−0.4	−4.7±2.4
FH down the line	24%	−1.8	−0.6	+1.5	−0.8±4.0
FH crosscourt	22%	−0.2	+3.0	−1.4	+1.4±3.8
FH slice through the middle	15%	−12.7	+0.8	±0.0	−11.9±1.2

Lean FH through the middle: −1.2±1.9 per 100 returns v the current mix (55 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

2nd serve to the backhand

Return	Now	Tour	Own	v Roberto	Value
BH through the middle	45%	−2.9	−0.7	+2.3	−1.3±2.1
BH crosscourt	30%	+1.0	+0.6	+0.2	+1.8±2.7
BH down the line	25%	−0.2	−0.5	+2.5	+1.8±4.6

Lean BH down the line: +1.4±3.6 per 100 returns v the current mix (115 returns charted, inside the 90% margin)

Rally plan

Edge, in points per 100 shots: the hitter's skill with the shot (own) plus how much the receiver usually gives up against it (theirs), both measured against the tour average.

Roberto Bautista Agut

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to their forehand · serve +1	+6.0±3.1	+2.6	+3.4
FH to their forehand · rally	+5.7±2.1	+2.9	+2.8
BH to their backhand · return	+4.6±2.6	+1.9	+2.6
FH to the middle · return	+4.4±1.9	+2.2	+2.2
FH to the middle · serve +1	+2.9±2.3	+2.8	+0.2
BH to the middle · return	+2.7±1.8	+1.2	+1.5

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to their backhand · return +1	−3.2±3.4	−1.2	−2.0
BH to their backhand · return +1	+0.1±2.8	±0.0	+0.1
FH to their backhand · rally	+0.9±2.2	±0.0	+0.8
BH to their forehand · rally	+1.2±3.6	+2.0	−0.8
BH slice to their backhand · rally	+1.3±2.1	+1.1	+0.2

Alexandre Muller

Favour

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
BH to their backhand · serve +1	+2.6±2.5	+1.5	+1.1
FH to the middle · return	+2.5±2.2	−0.1	+2.6
BH to their forehand · return	+2.4±4.0	+0.2	+2.2
BH to the middle · return	+2.4±1.8	−0.1	+2.4
FH to their forehand · return +1	+1.9±3.6	+0.7	+1.1
FH to the middle · rally	+1.3±1.8	−1.0	+2.2

Avoid

Shot	Edge	Own	Theirs
FH to the middle · serve +1	−2.1±2.3	−2.7	+0.7
FH to their forehand · rally	−1.9±2.3	−2.7	+0.8
BH to their backhand · return +1	−1.8±2.8	−2.0	+0.1
BH to their forehand · rally	−1.3±3.3	−3.7	+2.4
BH to the middle · rally	−1.1±1.5	−1.1	±0.0

Against Alexandre Muller-like opponents

Roberto Bautista Agut v	Matches	Serve pts won	Return pts won
All charted opponents	–	64.6%	35.0%
Players most similar to Alexandre Muller	5	68.6%	39.8%

Similar by tactical fingerprint: Karen Khachanov, Alexander Shevchenko, Laslo Djere, Rinky Hijikata, Luca Nardi, Roman Safiullin, Fabio Fognini, Otto Virtanen, Gregoire Barrere, Andreas Seppi. When two players have rarely met, their records against these lookalikes fill the gap.