Cordoba Open: Baez delights home fans by winning second career singles title
The Argentine had lost 16 of his last 17 matches on the tour before arriving in Cordoba this week
Sebastian Baez celebrates victory during the Millennium Estoril Open Final ATP 250 tennis tournament in Estoril
Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic
Fourth seed Sebastian Baez won the Cordoba Open trophy on Sunday by defeating No 6 seed Federico Coria 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 at the Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes.
This was the second career singles title for the 22-year-old Argentine, who won the title in Estoril last year.
“Winning a tournament in Argentina is something very difficult to describe with words, all my friends and family were there, it was something incredible,” Baez said as quoted by the ATP Tour. “I couldn’t find any celebration when the match point ended, I was able to get out what I felt when I got to my team. [My coach] Seba has supported me for as long as I can remember in my career, I am very grateful to him.”
Baez had lost 16 of his last 17 matches before Cordoba this week
The win marks a remarkable turnaround of form for Baez, who lost 10 matches in a row in the second half of last year. After breaking that streak with a first round win in Naples, he had lost his last six matches in a row before arriving this week in Cordoba.
The title takes Baez up 11 places to No 36 in the new ATP rankings on Monday, five places below his career-best ranking of No 31. Coria will climb 18 spots to make his Top 50 debut at No 49.
Earlier in the tournament, Baez, ranked No 47, had scored wins over Italian Luciano Darderi (6-3, 6-4), Chilean wildcard Tomas Barrios Vera (6-1, 3-6, 6-1) and qualifier Hugo Dellien (6-4, 6-4).
Coria, ranked No 67, defeated Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2), Italian Marco Cecchinato (6-3, 3-1 ret.), second seed Francisco Cerundolo (6-3, 3-0 ret.) and Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the No 3 seed (6-4, 7-6 (2)) in the previous rounds of the Cordoba tournament.
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