SANTIAGO/WASHINGTON, February 29, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
Chile’s Nicolas Jarry is the defending champion and top seed of the Movistar Chile Open, the most important tournament in his home country.
As Jarry readied to play his opening match, he revealed earlier this week in his pre-tournament news conference that he feels no extra pressure. In fact, he hopes to repeat his title run, in which he defeated Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the 2023 final.
“I’m feeling good about defending the title,” said Jarry, a 28-year-old native of Santiago. “It’s not an easy task, but I’m healthy and I’m really looking forward to it.
“You have to go game by game and give your best in each one to come out victorious.”
Defending champ through💥
Top seed @nicojarry defeats Coria 7-6 6-2 👏#Chileopen pic.twitter.com/VrQpu0N8Ha
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 29, 2024
In Wednesday evening’s featured match on Court Jaime Fillol, the World No. 22 Jarry faced No. 88 Federico Coria of Argentina for the first time at tour level, looking to reach his 22nd ATP Tour quarterfinal and to become the first Chile Open defending champion to reach the quarterfinal the following year in the five year history of the tournament.
Jarry, who started the match 6-1 versus Argentines since the start of the 2023 season – his sole loss was to Facundo Diaz Acosta in the Buenos Aires final earlier this month – was successful against Coria and won, 7-6 (4), 6-2, in an hour and 42 minutes. He fired 10 aces, won 85 percent of his first-serve points, saved the only break point he faced and broke Coria’s serve twice, in each of the Argentine’s final two service games. Jarry outpointed his opponent 74-55.
¡VICTORIA DE NICO JARRY! 🇨🇱
7-6(4) y 6-2 sobre el argentino Federico Coria para asegurar su ticket a los cuartos de final 🙌🏻. @NicoJarry | @ATPTour_ES pic.twitter.com/jvJ09g3cJI
— Chile Open (@chile_open) February 29, 2024
“I served very good throughout the whole match,” Jarry said in his in-court interview after the victory. “I think the key was I returned better the second set, and my forehand was more aggressive. I’m happy for those improvements today.”
One of Jarry’s goals is to improve his consistency. To wit, two weeks ago Jarry upset World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the Buenos Aires semifinals before losing in the title match to Diaz Acosta in the final. Last week, Jarry was eliminated in the opening round of the Rio Open by Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann.
¡JARRY 🇨🇱 DIÓ EL BATACAZO Y ES FINALISTA DEL #IEBMasArgOpen2024! 🏆
Venció 7-6 (2) 6-3 a Carlos Alcaraz 🇪🇸 y jugará la final ante Díaz Acosta 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/SaLi6EZngG
— IEB+ Argentina Open (@ArgentinaOpen) February 17, 2024
“I always want to win and do my best,” said Jarry, who will face 140th-ranked qualifier Corentin Moutet in Friday’s quarterfinal round after the Frenchman defeated No. 100 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, Wednesday afternoon.
“I want to beat whomever comes my way. I would love to repeat the title.”
Martinez reaches first quarterfinal on clay in two years
No. 101 Pedro Martinez of Spain, a 2022 champion in Chile, advanced to the quarterfinal round with a hard-fought and satisfying 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory over No. 6 seed Facundo Diaz Acosta of Argentina in three hours and eight minutes. Martinez secured the second-round win on his fifth match point. He won 79 percent of his first-serve points, converted five of 13 break points and outpointed Diaz Acosta 109-94.
“I think I was playing good with the serve and I was trying to go to the net because the conditions were fast,” Martinez said in his in-court interview. “It was a tough match. I’m just happy I could make it to the quarterfinals.”
Next stop ➡️ final 8!@PedroMPortero with an impressive victory over Diaz Acosta 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-1.@chile_open | #ChileOpen pic.twitter.com/rIKvJMjMRX
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 28, 2024
It’s the ninth ATP Tour quarterfinal berth for Martinez and first since Pune last year. The last time Martinez made it to the last eight on clay was at Kitzbühel in 2022.
Martinez improved to 11-6 versus left-handers and he’s 6-1 against them on tour-level clay since 2022. With his two victories this week in Santiago, Martinez has moved up to No. 94 in the ATP Live Rankings.
Next, Martinez will play No. 3 seed Arthur Fils of France, ranked 44th, who defeated No. 73 Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil, 6-3, 6-3, in an hour and 16 minutes to reach his third quarterfinal of the season. Fils hit seven aces, won 89 percent of his first-serve points and broke Seyboth Wild’s serve four times.
Through to his third quarter-final of 2024 👏@ArthurFils1 knocks out Seyboth Wild 6-3 6-3.@chile_open | #ChileOpen pic.twitter.com/ihsruzeDoQ
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 28, 2024
Around the Movistar Chile Open
• No. 1 seeds Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Pedro Cachin of Argentina and Jaume Munar of Spain. No. 2 seeds Andrea Pelegríno and Andrea Vavassori of Italy were upset by Chile’s Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo, 7-5, 4-6, 10-7, for a berth in the semifinals.
¡Tabilo y Barrios a la semifinal! 🇨🇱😍
Tras un 7-5, 4-6 y 10-7, la dupla chilena elimina a los campeones defensores Andrea Vavassori y Andrea Pellegrino 🇮🇹. @atptour | @ATPTour_ES pic.twitter.com/6Luq76Tgjl
— Chile Open (@chile_open) February 28, 2024
• Late Tuesday: In a war of attrition, wild card Luciano Darderi of Italy wrapped up his 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 7-6 (5) victory over Argentine lucky loser Facundo Bagnis at 1:55 a.m. in a rematch of this month’s Cordoba final, which was also won by Darderi. The 80th-ranked Darderi saved a couple of match points at 4-6 during the second-set tie-break. He rallied to close out the win on his third match-point opportunity after three hours and 19 minutes. Next, he will play 161st-ranked qualifier Juan Manuel Cerundolo of Argentina in the second round on Thursday.
¡Avanza Darderi! 🇮🇹
7-6, 6-7 y 7-6 sobre Facundo Bagnis para asegurar su cupo en la siguiente ronda del cuadro principal. @atptour | @Lucianodarderi_ pic.twitter.com/Uxvwx449Di
— Chile Open (@chile_open) February 28, 2024
• After losing his first-round match to fellow Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera, 7-6 (3), 7-5, Tuesday evening, former Chilean No. 1 Cristian Garin was critical of the playing conditions on Court Jaime Fillol during his post-match news conference. He said: “I don’t like to criticize the tournament because I’m in my country, but it’s the worst court at ATP level I’ve played on.”
Play was interrupted multiple times in each of the four matches on the main Court Tuesday in order for the grounds crew to smooth out soft or dead spots in the clay.
On Monday, Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, who lost to French qualifier Corentin Moutet, went on a rant about the court conditions: “It’s not tennis, it’s a shame. I hope this tournament never takes place again.”
Wednesday’s Movistar Chile Open results
Thursday’s Movistar Chile Open order of play
By the numbers
Facundo Diaz Acosta finished 9-3 in February (two of the losses were to Sebastian Baez). He reached his first ATP Tour quarterfinal in Cordoba, before winning his first title in Buenos Aires, both this month. He also reached a career-high ranking of No. 52.
“Quotable …”
“We worked for this moment, for the moment of [handling pressure] of the important points of the match. The match was very close and I knew I had to be focused. I am very happy for this win.”
Thiago Agustín Tirante of Argentina, during his on-court interview, after defeating 17-year-old Brazilian wild card and Rio Open quarterfinalist Joao Fonseca, 7-5, 7-6 (3), on Tuesday
