Báez, ranked 59th in the world ranking and who reaches an ATP final for the first time, will face tomorrow in the definition the winner of the second semifinal that will be played later by the Americans Sebastián Korda (37) and Frances Tiafoe (29). ).
The 21-year-old Argentine won against the Catalan Ramos-Vinolas (31), who was defending the title he won last year in Estoril, in two hours and 35 minutes of play. In this way, the native of Buenos Aires beat the Spaniard for the third time in the year, since he had surpassed him in the first round of the Australian Open and in the semifinals of the ATP 250 in Santiago, Chile.
Báez, who will climb to 48th place in the world ranking with his access to the semifinals, the best position of his career, starred in a great week in Portugal with successive wins over the local Joao Sousa (83), champion of Estoril in the 2018 edition, Croatian Marin Cilic (23), former world number three and US Open champion in 2014, and Frenchman Richard Gasquet (80).
“I had opportunities to close the match in the tie break of the second set but my nerves played a bit. Luckily physically, it benefited me to go to the third set and I was able to pull it off”, expressed Báez to the press of the Lusitanian tournament. As for his rival in the final, which has not yet been defined, the Argentine assured that “everyone is difficult at this level and I just really want to play my best.”
The top favorite for the title in the Portuguese event, which is part of the European tour on clay and will distribute prizes of 597,900 euros, was the Canadian Félix Auger Aliassime (10), who lost in the quarterfinals to the North American Korda.
The second seed was the Argentine Diego Schwartzman (15), but last Tuesday he opted to drop out of the tournament to preserve his physique with a view to the next Masters 1000 in Madrid, which will begin tomorrow, and in Rome.
The Argentine champions of the Portugal Open in history were David Nalbandian (2002 and 2006), Gastón Gaudio (2005), Juan Martín Del Potro (2011 and 2012) and Carlos Berlocq (2014).
Source: Ambito
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