Defending Champion Baez Holds Firm In Estoril Opener

After his title run on event debut in 2022, Sebastian Baez retains only positive memories of the Millennium 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.

That was evident on Monday, when the defending champion had to dig deep for a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory against Radu Albot to advance to the second round in Portugal. 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 Head2Head 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 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 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. The Italian crucially saved nine of 12 break points he faced against the No. 36-ranked Schwartzman to improve to 4-0 in tour-level opening rounds for the year.

Cecchinato’s two-hour, four-minute win set an all-Italian second-round clash against Fabio Fognini. The nine-time tour-level titlist Fognini enjoyed a comfortable debut in Estoril, where he raced past qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 6-1.