Baez Displays A Golden Touch In Santiago, Wins Chile Open

Sebastian Baez, Chile Open
Sebastian Baez (photo: Movistar Chile Open)

SANTIAGO/WASHINGTON, March 4, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Everything Sebastian Baez touches these days, it seems, turns to gold. On a warm Sunday evening in the Chilean capital city of Santiago, the diminutive, 21st-ranked Argentine showed a golden touch in winning his second straight title on the Golden Swing of South American clay.

Baez defeated Chilean home favorite Alejandro Tabilo, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4, in two hours and 14 minutes to win the fifth edition of the ATP 250 Movistar Chile Open.

Sebastian Baez

Sebastian Baez (photo: Movistar Chile Open)

The 23-year-old Baez, a native of Buenos Aires, has strung together nine straight victories in winning consecutive titles in Rio and Santiago. After losing the opening set, the No. 2 seed Baez saved his best tennis of the week for the final two sets of the title match on Court Jaime Fillol. He strung together nine straight winning games, which turned the match in his favor and left the fourth-seeded Tabilo, who won the Auckland title at the start of 2024, flummoxed by what had transpired.

When Baez was asked during his on-court interview before the trophy presentation how it felt to win another title, which would lift him into the Top 20, he answered: “Amazing! It’s been an amazing week; I share it with my team. It’s been an amazing journey. I really enjoyed today.”

For a while at the beginning, it looked like it would be a cakewalk to a third-career title for Tabilo. At 3-2 in the opening set, Baez dug himself into a love-40 hole but saved a trio of break points – the second one on the luckiest of net cords. Tabilo got another break-point chance and Baez rose to the challenge, again, and saved it. However, on Tabilo’s fifth break-point opportunity, he finally cashed in on the 16th point of the lengthy sixth game with a running forehand volley winner to break for a 4-2 lead.

Consolidating the break, though, tuned out to be a challenge for Tabilo as he needed to save three break points of his own to hold for a 5-2 edge. Soon, he closed out the 52-minute opening set 6-3 after Baez netted a fourth-shot backhand.

Next, Baez came out strong to open the second set with a gut punch to Tabilo in the Chilean’s first service game to break for a 2-0 advantage. He consolidated the break with a solid service game. Then, Baez gained a double-break lead in the next game and immediately held for an insurmountable 5-0 lead. He closed out the middle set with a flourish, winning at love to earn a bagel set – first in an ATP final this season – which leveled the match at a set each. A telling stat of the 26-minute second set: Baez won a whopping 91 percent of his first-set points, while Tabilo won a minuscule 18 percent.

Onward to the third set, Baez made it seven straight games after saving a break point in a 10-point game, then had break points in Tabilo’s first service game. Guess what? The Argentine broke at 30-40 on an unforced error by Tabilo for a 2-0 lead. Baez set up game point with his fifth ace but Tabilo earned a deuce point when Baez netted a 13th-shot slice forehand. No worries. Baez gained an ad-point with a third-shot backhand winner, then won his ninth straight game with a fifth-shot inside-out forehand winner that stunned Tabilo.

Tabilo finally broke Baez’s streak of games won with a hold of his own, but it would be an uphill battle the rest of the way. Baez put up an easy hold after hitting a drop-shot winner on game point for a 4-1 lead, then pressured Tabilo into saving five break points in the next game with some excellent shot-making prowess. Next, following a love hold, Baez found himself in control, ahead 5-2.

A game later, serving for the match and the title, Baez was broken on Tabilo’s second break point. No worries because Baez broke Tabilo for the fifth time in 16 opportunities and, finally, served out the victory with a flourish, triumphing with one last forehand winner.

Baez finished with five aces and won 70 percent of his first-serve points, saved eight of 10 break points he faced and outpointed Tabilo 99-79.

The bottom line: Baez handled the pressure of the final and in the end won his sixth career ATP Tour title.

Baez will crack the Top 20 on Monday by achieving a career-high ranking of No. 19 and he’s fifth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin after posting his tour-leading 16th victory of the season.

Around the Movistar Chile Open

Late Saturday night, unseeded Chileans Tomas Barrios Vera and Alejandro Tabilo won the Movistar Chile Open doubles title – their first at tour level. They defeated wild card team Orlando Luz of Brazil and Matias Soto of Chile, 6-2, 6-4, in 69 minutes.

Previously, Barrios Vera and Tabilo reached the Santiago semifinals in both 2020 and 2022 but this is the furthest they’ve gone. They converted four of eight break points, which included breaking serve in their first three return games.

The title triumph improved the win-loss record for Barrios Vera and Tabilo to 14-9. Ironically, the two met in the second round of the singles draw earlier in the week, won by Tabilo 6-2, 7-5.

By the numbers

By winning titles back-to-back in Rio and Santiago, Sebastian Baez will join Jannik Sinner (Australian Open, Rotterdam) and Ugo Humbert (Marseille, Dubai) as the only players to win multiple titles on the ATP Tour this year.

”Quotable …”

“[I have] many feelings because in the beginning of the match, I didn’t feel good. It was all different, the first set, the second set and the third.

“I think it was from less to high all the time. So I will just enjoy with my team because we fought from years ago to be here and to want to be with high moments, high ranking.”

— Sebastian Baez of Argentina, post-match, as quoted by the ATP Tour website.

 

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