From Rio To Santiago, Sebastian Baez Continues His Winning Run

Sebastian Baez
Sebastian Baez (photo: Movistar Chile Open)

SANTIAGO/WASHINGTON, March 2, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Sebastian Baez earned a personal-best 31 wins last season, highlighted by a 12-match winning streak in which he won back-to-back summer titles at Kitzbühel on clay and Winston-Salem on hard court, then advanced to the third round of US Open.

In 2024, the diminutive 5-foot-7 Argentine has picked up where he left off. He’s gone 14-5 – including 11-2 on the Golden Swing this month in South America – and last week earned his biggest title by winning the ATP 500 Rio Open in Brazil on clay.

The 23-year-old Baez entered play this week at the Movistar Chile Open in Santiago with a career-high ranking of No. 21 and advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru on Thursday afternoon. It was his sixth straight win on clay.

“I had a good start to the game, then things got a little complicated,” Baez said in his post-match news conference. “The rest of the game I improved. …”

Baez is 8-3 lifetime in Santiago, including a nice run to the 2022 final before losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Spain’s Pedro Martinez.

“I really like Chile. I feel comfortable, and it is difficult to feel that comfort in a foreign country.”

On Friday, the No. 2 seed was back on Court Jaime Fillol against 70th-ranked Jaume Munar of Spain, who came in 4-11 in ATP Tour quarterfinals and was seeking his fifth tour-level semifinal.  However, Baez took advantage of a break of his opponent’s serve in the first game of the match that provided him an edge to take the opening set. Then, he rallied from 1-4 down in the second set and won the final five games of the one-hour, 48-minute march to garner a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Munar to advance to his third semifinal of this year’s Golden Swing.

The turning point of the match came when Baez saved two break points during a lengthy, 20-point eighth game to level the second set at 4-all, then broke Munar for the third time to go ahead 5-4. He served out the quarterfinal victory – his seventh straight triumph – and won on his first match point. Baez outpointed Munar 75-69.

“It was a close match. In the beginning, maybe I had the difference with the first break,” Baez said in his on-court interview. “In the second set, I didn’t feel so good for some moments but my team helped me a lot.”

Next, Baez will oppose the 101st-ranked Martinez, who upset No. 3 seed Arthur Fils of France ranked 44th, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, in two hours and 25 minutes. The Spaniard benefited from six double faults by Fils and four breaks of the Frenchman’s serve. Martinez outpointed Fils 101-74.

It will be a rematch of the 2022 Santiago final won by the Spaniard for his only ATP Tour title.

Moutet upsets top seed Jarry, to face Tabilo

French qualifier Corentin Moutet pulled off the upset of the tournament by stunning World No. 22 and top seed Nicolas Jarry of Chile, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3), in two hours and 11 minutes before a full house that filled Court Jaime Fillol.

The 140th-ranked Moutet had been winless coming into this week’s event. Now, he’s strung together three wins in the main draw — against Roberto Carballes Baena, Thiago Agustín Tirante and Jarry — coupled with two last weekend in qualifying. The lefty Moutet is through to his fourth career ATP Tour semifinal – first on clay – and first since Adelaide in 2022.

Moutet will face another Chilean, No. 4 seed Alejandro Tabilo, who defeated Italian wild card Luciano Darderi, 6-0, 7-5, in 77 minutes. Tabilo fired nine aces, won 78 percent of his first-serve points and saved all four break points he faced from Darderi. He outpointed the 80th-ranked Darderi 67-46.

Around the Movistar Chile Open

Two of the top three doubles seeds remained as the semifinals took place Friday. In the first semifinal, No. 1 seeds Marcelo Melo of Brazil and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands faced wild cards Orlando Luz of Brazil and Matias Soto of Chile, who a day earlier upset No. 4 seeds Evan King and Reese Stalder of the United States. This time, Luz and Soto were magical, again, as they upset Melo and Middelkoop, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

The other doubles semifinal paired No. 3 seeds Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Rafael Matos of Brazil, who won the Rio Open title last week, against Chilean duo Tomas Barrios Vera and Tabilo. And like the first doubles semifinal, the second one provided an upset, too. Barrios Vera and Tabilo rose to the occasion and won 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.

Friday’s Movistar Chile Open results

Saturday’s Movistar Chile Open order of play

By the numbers

Alejandro Tabilo is through to his fourth ATP Tour semifinal and first on clay since 2022 at Santiago. He is seeded at an ATP Tour event for the second time in his career.

“Quotable …”

“I lost the first set, but I knew I was playing better. In the second set I had gone ahead and broke because of my bad decisions. I played a bad game and he was superior most of the time.”

— World  No. 22 and top seed Nicolas Jarry, during his post-match news conference, following his quarterfinal loss to French qualifier Corentin Moutet.

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