Diaz Acosta rallies to 9th win of Golden Swing in Santiago

Sixth seed Facundo Diaz Acosta dealt fellow Argentine Pedro Cachin a heartbreaking three-set loss after surviving a serious scare on Day 1 of the 2024 Movistar Chile Open in Santiago Monday night.

Cachin served for the match at 6-5 in the third set before the recent Buenos Aires champion broke to force a tie-break and ultimately hand Cachin his ninth consecutive tour-level defeat with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(2) win in three hours and nine minutes.

"It was a very tough match, Pedro served very good," Diaz Acosta said. "Mentally it was a little bit tough for me at first but I was able to stay in the match and that was the key to get the win today.

"My serve and forehand were pretty good at the end. I just need to stay focused and get more consistency in the game."

Diaz Acosta, No. 52 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, improved to 9-2 in February, a run that also includes a quarter-final showing in Cordoba. He is seeded for the first time at an ATP 250.

Former World No. 48 Cachin, slipped to 0-6 on the season and 0-9 since his last match win against Albert Ramos-Vinolas at Kitzbuehel last year. He paid the price for converting just three of 18 break point chances, including only one of five in the final set according to Infosys ATP Stats

Diaz Acosta next faces a first-time Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with 2022 champion Pedro Martinez, who defeated Italian wild card Francesco Passaro 6-4, 6-1 after claiming five service breaks. Spaniard Martinez had not won a clay-court match since defeating Cristian Garin in Rio de Janeiro last year.

Argentine Federico Coria, who began the swing with back-to-back semi-finals in Cordoba and Buenos Aires, bounced back from a first-round loss last week in Rio de Janeiro with a 6-1, 7-6(1) win over Slovakian qualifier Alex Molcan.