Báez advances in Cincinnati saving match points | ATP Tour

Cincinnati

Báez advances in Cincinnati saving match points

His next rival will be Jordan Thompson or the French Ugo Humbert

August 13, 2024

Sebastián Báez has made one of his biggest comebacks of the season. Although his rival, local Marcos Giron, served for the match, had two match points and won more points in the first round match at the Cincinnati Open, the Argentine ended up taking the victory with scores of 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(6).

Everything seemed settled when Giron, No. 45 in the PIF ATP Rankings, broke at love at 4-4 in the decider. However, Báez prevented him from confirming the break in the next game and contributed to the match being decided in a tie-break in which he also had to row against the current.

Giron, champion last month on the grass at Newport, held a 4/1, 6/4 lead in the tiebreak but committed two unforced errors in the last four points of the match and Baez did not waste the opportunity to come back and claim a victory that leaves the Lexus ATP HeadToHead between them at 2-0.

Although he lost more points than he won (109-107), he won the most important ones. And the way the No. 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings celebrated was a hit on social media. After shaking Giron’s hand, he approached one of the stands to reward a young fan who supported him from start to finish so that he could end up prevailing in two hours and 35 minutes.

The debut that had it all 🔥🔥

🇦🇷 @sebaabaez7 He played a game to the limit in Cincinnati against Giron and thanked the most dedicated fan 😍@TennisTV | @CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/Nm64HWj4kA

— ATP Tour in Spanish (@ATPTour_ES) August 13, 2024

Baez now has 90 career wins on the ATP Tour (19 of them on hard courts). He also now has 30 matches won this season, one away from his personal record for wins in a single year (he achieved 31 in 2023). He could equal it in the next round when he faces Australian Jordan Thompson or Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

In other results of the day, Czech Jiri Lehecka defeated Argentine Mariano Navone with scores of 7-6(3), 6-3. The Czech, who had not competed since April at the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid, will now face Daniil Medvedev, the fourth seed. The Lexus ATP HeadToHead between the two is 1-1.