Baez, Etcheverry Set All-Argentine SF In Santiago

Argentina’s Sebastian Baez continued to make himself at home in Chile on Friday at the Movistar Chile Open, with the third seed improving to 28-3 in the nation including matches across the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and ATP qualifying.

The 22-year-old’s latest victory was a 7-6(4), 6-4 triumph against sixth seed Laslo Djere in a matchup of the only two seeds in the singles quarter-finals at the Santiago ATP 250.

“I feel so comfortable. The people, everything,” Baez said of his time in Chile. “Every match I always say the same, but it’s real.”

Baez won a tight opening set that included just a single break point, which Djere saved in the first game, but the Argentine surrendered an early break in the second. From 1-3, Baez won five of the final six games, including two love holds and a match-clinching break on his third match point after opening a 0/40 advantage.

“It was our first meeting so it was really close in both sets,” Baez said. “Maybe in the difficult moments I felt better than him, so maybe that’s the reason I took the match. I’m happy for that and to stay in the tournament.”

Two wins from his second title of the season (Cordoba), he will next meet Tomas Martin Etcheverry in an all-Argentine semi-final. Etcheverry advanced to his first ATP Tour semi-final with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Dusan Lajovic, backing up the biggest win of his career against second seed and World No. 32 Francisco Cerundolo on Thursday.

Up eight places to No. 68 this week in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, the 23-year-old is set for a new career high on Monday.

Friday’s other two Santiago quarter-finals will see Jaume Munar take on Thiago Monteiro and Nicolas Jarry face Yannick Hanfmann.