Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Roberto Bautista Agut predicted a great future for Jannik Sinner after going down to the Italian teenager for the second straight time in the last few weeks.
The 19-year-old beat Spaniard Bautista Agut 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the Miami Open semi-finals on Friday to become the fourth teenager to reach the title round of the ATP Masters 1000 event after Andre Agassi, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
"He has a great future coming up. He has everything," world number 12 Bautista Agut told reporters. "He has a big serve, he's tall, he's big, he moves well, he has very good groundstrokes. Well, mentally he's also great and improving."
Alexander Bublik said Sinner was not human after ending up losing in the quarter-finals, despite trying everything to unsettle the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals winner.
Bautista Agut, who reached the last four of the 2019 Wimbledon and also reached a career-high ranking of ninth the same year, also hailed Sinner's composure.
The nine-time ATP Tour winner, who will turn 33 this month, also lost to Sinner two weeks back in Dubai.
"Both matches I had the feeling I could win but finally I didn't. I think he has something special in tough moments," Bautista Agut said.
Sinner reached his maiden major quarter-final at the 2020 French Open and in February became the youngest since Djokovic in 2006 to win two ATP titles by claiming the Great Ocean Road Open after his Sofia Open triumph at the end of last year.
He is currently ranked at a career-high 31st and will play his first ATP Masters 1000 final on Sunday against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.
The Italian is, however, staying grounded and said his calm demeanour on and off the court was due to his parents.
"They are working every day a simple job, they know what it means to work hard," said Sinner, whose father is a chef and his mother a waitress in the same restaurant.
"They gave me this kind of mindset, always trying your best day after day and trying to not lose energy during your job."
