Baez reaches Santiago final, on brink of back-to-back titles

Sebastian Baez moved within one of completing the Rio de Janeiro-Santiago double for the second consecutive year on Saturday.

The Argentine extended his winning streak to eight and advanced to the Movistar Chile Open final after ousting countryman Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Seeded third in Santiago, the 24-year-old captured his 100th tour-level match win by improving to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Ugo Carabelli. All three of their meetings have been in the past three weeks: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and now at the ATP 250 in Chile.

“Today was a big battle,” said Baez, who created 10 break chances, converting five, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “We’ve known each other many, many years. In some moments of the match, we both had ups and downs. I’m happy to be in another final tomorrow.”

Baez is the first reigning Santiago champion to reach the final in pursuit of a title defence. The Buenos Aires native will next face Laslo Djere, whom Baez has defeated in their previous two encounters, including in the Santiago quarter-finals in 2023.

Baez is the eighth player born in 2000 or later to capture 100 tour-level wins.

The Serbian Djere advanced to his sixth tour-level final after upsetting top seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Competing in his 300th tour-level match, the 29-year-old struck the ball cleanly and fought off a second-set charge from the Argentine, improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Cerundolo. Djere clinched the two hour semi-final on his fourth match point.

Serbian resilience 🇷🇸💪

Djere is victorious in his 3⃣0⃣0⃣th tour-level match and secures his spot in the Santiago final! @chile_open | #MovistarChileOpen pic.twitter.com/6xYpxODbCA

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 1, 2025

“I’m happy that I could win this match. It was really tough,” Djere said. “The conditions were different than the previous days, during the day. I adapted quite well at the beginning and then my level slightly dropped in the second set. I managed to play a good third set.”

A two-time tour-level titlist, Djere is up 14 places to No. 89 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.