Alexander Zverev beats Bautista-Agut to advance into third round in Monte Carlo
The German 13th seed, who suffered a serious ankle injury in the French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal (36) last year, won his second match in as many days for his first steps on the red dirt since the Roland Garros drama.
Zverev broke for 3-2 in the opening set and held serve to take the lead in the contest, before breaking again in the fifth game of the second set.
Bautista-Agut, however, stole the German's serve right back to level for 3-3, only for Zverev to take the decisive break in the following game.
Check out Zverev's game summary with Flashscore
Russian Daniil Medvedev (27), winner of four hard court titles this year, continued his excellent start to the season with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Italian Lorenzo Sonego (27) on a surface he has not enjoyed much success on in the past.
"I always struggle on clay," said third seed Medvedev. "I've had some good matches where I still struggled.
"There's no rhythm on clay, every bounce is a bad bounce and even when it's good you're expecting a bad bounce.
"But I managed to play good against a very strong player."
RUUD MARCHES ON
Last year's French Open Casper Ruud (24) was also in second-round action against Botic van de Zandschulp (27) of the Netherlands with the Norwegian winning in straight sets 7-5, 7-6.
"It's never easy to start at a new tournament and against a player I've lost to before," said Ruud, who claimed the Estoril title in the lead-up to Monte Carlo.
"I was a bit sloppy and didn't take my chances. Sometimes it's a little tricky playing someone you recently lost to, like 'not again' but in this case I was a bit happy because I felt there was some unfinished business."
Ruud next plays Jan-Lennard Struff (32) who stunned 14th seed Alex de Minaur (24) 6-3 6-2.
Karen Khachanov (26) also went through with a 7-6(2) 6-2 win over Ilya Ivashka (29) while eighth seed Taylor Fritz (25) overcame Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka (38) 7-6(10) 6-2.
They were joined by Lorenzo Musetti (21), who blanked Luca Nardi (19) 6-0 6-0 to set up a clash with world number one Novak Djokovic (35).
Miami runner-up Jannik Sinner (21) advanced after his doubles partner Diego Schwartzman (30) retired with a shoulder injury trailing 6-0 3-1.
Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem's (29) attempts to revive his career following a wrist injury were dealt another blow in a 6-2 6-4 loss to ninth-ranked Holger Rune (19).
The loss extended Thiem's bid for a first win over a top-10 ranked player since November, 2020.
Denmark's Rune next faces Matteo Berrettini, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a hard-fought 5-7 7-6(1) 6-4 victory over Francisco Cerundolo (24).