Sebastian Baezcurrently ranked 19th in the world, faced the Italian-Argentine Luciano Darderi and, after losing the first set 6-2, managed to come back and win the next two by 6-4 and 6-4 to qualify for the semifinals of the ATP 500 of Hamburg.
The match lasted two hours and fifteen minutes, and was a true testament to the young Argentine tennis player’s tenacity and skill.
Baez’s path in the German tournament was not easy. In the first round, he defeated local player Dominik Koepfer with a resounding 6-2 and 6-3. Later, in the round of 16, he had to work hard to overcome Dusan Lajovic, achieving a victory by 4-6, 7-5 and 6-2.
This tournament marks the third semi-final of the year for Báez, who has already lifted trophies at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro and the ATP 250 in Santiago, Chile.
With this new victory, Báez leads his particular series against Darderi with three wins to one. In addition, the Argentine consolidates his position as the player with the most victories on clay this season, accumulating 24 triumphs.
His next opponent will be Frenchman Arthur Fils, who later advanced following the withdrawal of Danish Holger Rune.
On another front of the Hamburg tournament, the also Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo He had a day to forget. Cerúndolo, ranked 33rd in the rankings, was unable to maintain his good initial performance and ended up losing to the Spaniard Pedro Martínez by 1-6, 6-1 and 6-4.
This result means a drop in its position in the ranking, dropping to 37th place, a position it had not occupied since July 2022.
Cerúndolo had shown excellent form in his previous match, defeating local Maximilian Marterer with his most convincing victory of the season. However, his inconsistent performance against Martínez, accumulating two aces, 64% of points won with his first serve, 34 winners and 40 unforced errors, was decisive in his defeat.
Despite this setback, Cerúndolo, 25, remains a player to be reckoned with on the circuit. This year he has achieved important victories and has shown that he is capable of competing at the highest level.
In Hamburg, he had already beaten players such as Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi and France’s Ugo Blanchet, and was facing a tough match between Alexander Zverev and China’s Zhizhen Zhang before his defeat.
Source: Ambito
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