Alejandro Tabilo rallied from a break down in the second and third sets to claw his way into the final of the Movistar Chile Open with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over French qualifier Corentin Moutet Saturday night in Santiago.
Tabilo, who will chase his second title of the year (Auckland) against Rio de Janeiro champion Sebastian Baez, has surged to a career-high No. 39 in the PIF ATP Rankings and will go to 35 if he becomes the third Chilean in the past four years to lift the trophy on Sunday.
In a battle of left-handers, Tabilo fought back from a set and a break down to force a decider, in which he found himself down 2-4 before riding fierce home support to victory against Moutet, who one day earlier had taken out top seed and defending champion Nicolas Jarry.
"He is a very talented player who I knew would come up with a lot of variety," said Tabilo, who improved to 10-3 on the season. "It's always tough playing against someone like that, but [the crowd] helped me a lot today and I was just trying to keep focused, keep calm and keep battling.
"In the third set I just thought back to how I was broken in the first game of the second set, so I had a few more games to break back. I just tried to stay calm and wait for the opportunity."
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Alejandro Tabilo defeats Corentin Moutet 4-6 6-4 7-5 to reach his second final of the season.@chile_open | #ChileOpen pic.twitter.com/17DbuUD8xU
Baez claimed his first win in his third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Martinez, defeating the Spaniard 6-4, 6-2 after saving both break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats.
Extending his winning streak to eight matches, Baez has remained at No. 21 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings all week but will improve his current career-high and crack the Top 20 for the first time Monday as World No. 19 if he wins Sunday’s title.
In 2023 Baez won consecutive titles in Kitzbuehel and Winston-Salem as part of an eventual 12-match winning streak that ran through to the third round of the US Open.
Did You Know?
Tabilo seeks to become the third home champion in the past four years, following title runs by Cristian Garin (2021) and Nicolas Jarry (2023)
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