End of the adventure for Sebastián Báez at Estoril: Casper Ruud did not give him a chance and left him without a title defense

the Norwegian Casper Ruudnumber five in the world and first seed, he got close to the semifinals of the ATP 250 in Estoril (Portugal) by beating Argentina in the quarterfinals this Friday Sebastian Baez (32nd) for 6-3 and 6-0.

Báez, who last year won his first ATP title in Estoril by beating American Frances Tiafoe in the final, was the only Argentine still in the running in the brick-dust tournament following the eliminations of Pedro Cachin AND diego schwartzmann. He had a chance to break Ruud’s serve in the first set, but he couldn’t make it and then the Norwegian put it in the lead.

The merit of San Martín, the only albiceleste champion in this 2023 -he won his second trophy at the ATP 250 in Córdoba-, had entered the top eight of a tournament for the fourth time so far this season, always on brick dust . He had already reached that stage in the land of Cordoba, in Rio de Janeiro (he lost against Nicolás Jarry) and in Santiago de Chile (he beat Laslo Djere and then saw off Tomás Etcheverry in the semifinals).

In the Estoril semifinal, Ruud, his executioner, will face the surprising Frenchman Quentin Halis (80th), who also didn’t have any major problems overtaking the Austrian Dominic Thiem (current 111th and former world number three) for 6-1 and 6-4.

Halys will play his first semifinal in an ATP tournament.“It’s a crazy week. I’m playing very well and I feel very confident. It’s very nice to win these kind of matches, especially in straight sets”said the Frenchman after the victory over Thiem.

In the other part of the draw, the Portuguese tournament was without Spaniards with the eliminations of Alejandro Davidovich (24th) and Bernabé Zapata (43rd).

Davidovich’s defeat was against the Italian Marco Cecchinato (96th), executioner of Schwartzman, for 7-5 and 7-6 (5), while Zapata lost to the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (40th) for 7-5 and 6-2.

Source: AFP