The ATP 250 in Córdoba will have an Argentine finalist. Federico Coria He surprised Tomás Etcheverry, third seed, by beating him this Friday 6-3 and 6-4 and will clash this Saturday from 6:00 p.m. in the semifinals against another Rosario player like Facundo Bagniswhich left the Spanish on the road James Munar by 7-5 and 6-4.
Sebastian Baez will be the other Argentine protagonist of the day, because this Friday he defeated with solvency Facundo Díaz Acosta to meet with the man born in Villa Gesell but naturalized Italian Luciano Darderi. The man from Buenos Aires, who gave Argentina a place in the Davis Cup Finals last weekend, is the defending champion.
“Córdoba is my place. I get here and I feel in a good mood. I encourage myself to compete against anyone. I don’t see the ranking plate”said Coria, 93rd in the world.
His record proves it. He will play this Saturday his fifth semi-final at ATP level and three of them were in the tournament held at the Mario Alberto Kempes Sports Center. When was the last time he had three wins in a row? Precisely at the ATP 250 in Córdoba last year, when he had four wins before falling in the final with Báez.
This Friday was one of the best victories of his career due to the quality of Etcheverry, who is one of the main rackets in South American tennis, but also because of the level of play he exhibited. He was firm from the baseline and dominated the scene for many moments, but he also knew how to suffer and resisted the power of his rival very well. So he won two hard-fought sets, in one hour and 49 minutes of play.
“I lived it relaxed. When you play against someone with a better ranking it makes you more relaxed. I took advantage of that to my advantage. I arrived with rhythm and was able to beat Tomy with very few unforced errors”analyzed after his move to the semifinals.
Etcheverry is in a slump in performance. After his good performance at the Australian Open, where he beat Andy Murray and Gael Monfils before losing to Novak Djokovic in the third round, his time in South America is below his expectations. He lost in the Davis Cup to Timofey Skatov (278th) and now said goodbye to Córdoba.
On the other hand, Bagnis is happy. By beating Munar at 33 years, 11 months and 11 days, he became the third oldest Argentine tennis player to reach a semifinal of an ATP tournament, after Guillermo Vilas (34 years and 11 months in Prague 1987) and Carlos Berlocq (34 years and 10 days in Buenos Aires 2017). It is the third semifinal of his career, after those in Córdoba and Viña del Mar in 2021
“It is not easy to go through qualifying and win three games at this level. I am not used to making a semi-final in an ATP and you have to prevent your head from relaxing.”Bagnis explained. And he concluded: “Sometimes the results don’t happen and at this age you rethink things. My colleagues are all quitting and that doesn’t help, heh. Working for the result is the objective and when these things happen you have to enjoy it”.