ESTORIL, Portugal — Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 5 seed, defeated Radu Albot 7-5, 7-6 (3) to reach the second round of the Portuguese Open in Estoril, Portugal.
After his title run on event debut in 2022, Baez retains only positive memories of the Estoril Open. Yet the Argentine knows he needs to stay focused if he wants to maintain his unbeaten record for another year at the clay-court ATP 250.
Baez dropped serve four times in his two-hour, 13-minute win but engineered five breaks of his own to prevail in the pair’s maiden ATP meeting.
“Always the first match [back on clay] is tough,” said Baez, who reached the third round on the hard courts of Indian Wells in his most recent ATP Tour event.
“It was close. I know him; he is an experienced player. To take the win [I had to be] strong in difficult moments, because there is pressure for me [as the defending champion] of course,” Baez added according to atptour.com.
Baez trailed 2-5 in the second set but raised his game to force a tie-break which he proceeded to dominate.
Having defeated home favourite and former champion Joao Sousa, Marin Cilic, and Frances Tiafoe en route to his first ATP Tour title in Estoril last year, the World No. 32 feels comfortable in his surroundings in southern Portugal, even if this year’s event is being held three weeks earlier in the season.
“I know it is a different time, because this year it is the first tournament on clay in the season,” said Baez. “It is a time difference; it is colder than last year. A different situation, but I am happy to be back.”
The 22-year-old’s second-round opponent will be his countryman Pedro Cachin, who defeated Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-4, 6-4.
There was an opening-day upset in Estoril as Marco Cecchinato took out the seventh-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6 (8) for his first Top 50 victory of 2023.
Nadal to miss Monte Carlo Masters
Rafa Nadal will miss next week’s Monte Carlo Masters tournament having failed to recover in time from an injury that has sidelined him for months, he said on Tuesday.
Nadal was forced to skip the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells last month as well as the Miami Open that ended last week, as he continues his recovery from a hip issue that ended his Australian Open title defence in the second round in January.
“Unfortunately I am still not ready to compete and will miss one of those special tournaments I always love to play,” Nadal said in a statement.
“Monte Carlo is and has been a key event in my career, but unfortunately I will have to miss it again since I am still not ready to compete without the risk of getting injured. I will continue the process of getting ready to come back.”
His absence from competitions means that Nadal days ago dropped four places to 13th in the rankings, ending his record 912-week stay inside the top 10.
The Spaniard, who has won Monte Carlo 11 times in his career still hopes to be fit for the French Open in May, a clay court tournament he has dominated for years, having won there 14 times.
Meanwhile, two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Elina Svitolina played a WTA match for the first time as a mother, losing to Yulia Putintseva 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4 at the Charleston Open.
Svitolina has been ranked as high as No. 3 and is currently No. 1,081, because she was off the professional tennis tour for a little more than a year.
She and her husband, fellow player Gael Monfils, became parents in October, when their daughter, Skai, was born.
The first-round match in the main stadium of a tournament played on green clay lasted 2 hours, 46 minutes on a cloudy, breezy day and was filled with momentum swings.
Putintseva led 5-4 in the opening set and was a point from taking it. But Svitolina held steady and forced a tiebreaker. Putintseva grabbed a 3-1 edge there; before Svitolina reeled off the next six points to claim the set, shaking a clenched fist and yelling, “Let’s go!”
After Putintseva dominated the second set, the third was even at 4-all before she pulled it out, frequently using drop shots to gain the edge – including on match point.
The previous time Svitolina competed at a tournament, at the Miami Open in March 2022, she was ranked No. 20. She received a wild-card invitation to get into the main draw in Charleston.