Baez breezes through Buenos Aires opener

Sebastian Baez atoned for an early exit last season at his home tournament with a dominant opening win on Tuesday at the IEB+ Argentina Open. In his native Buenos Aires, the fifth seed cruised past Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-3, 6-3 to advance at the ATP 250.

The victory improved Baez to 5-1 in opening-round matches played in Argentina and 10-1 in his past 11 clay-court matches. The 23-year-old won 86 per cent of his first-serve points according to Infosys ATP Stats and was broken just once in a swift 72-minute victory.

"I'm happy to take the match here in my home with my people, my family, my friends," he said post-match. "I'm happy to be in the next round and I have the chance to do better than the past week, and with the same opponent. So it will be a good chance."

Effort at 💯@sebaabaez7 | @ArgentinaOpen | #IEBMasArgOpen2024 pic.twitter.com/7tuGJrjsAL

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 14, 2024

Baez will next meet Luciano Darderi in the second round, less than a week after the Argentine-born Italian beat him in the Cordoba semi-finals en route to his maiden ATP Tour title. Darderi stretched his tour-level winning streak to six matches by beating home hope Mariano Navone 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday without losing serve.

#NextGenATP star Arthur Fils was the only other seeded player in action, but the Frenchman could not join Baez in the last 16. The eighth seed was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Dusan Lajovic, who is making his eighth main-draw appearance in Buenos Aires.

Only Diego Schwartzman (11) has more appearances among the 2024 field, but the Argentine fan favourite saw his tournament cut short after Daniel Elahi Galan beat him 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round. Two other Argentines did advance on Tuesday: Federico Coria, a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 winner against Sebastian Ofner, and qualifier Camilo Ugo Carabelli, who beat Juan Pablo Varillas 7-6(5), 6-4.