The main frame of the Monte Carlo Masters 1,000 It’s a chimera for Sebastian Baez. The Buenos Aires native had everything in place to celebrate the first victory of his career in a main draw on the clay of the principality, but when he served 5-3 in the second set it fell apart and the dream turned into a nightmare: German Jan-Lennard Struff he recovered to beat him 1-6, 7-6 (3) and 6-2.
This was the start of the slow courts tour prior to Roland Garros for the best Argentine in the ATP ranking (19th), who wants to take a step forward in European tournaments on that surface, after having been one of the best in the championships on that surface held in South America.
The beginning of the game for Báez did nothing to foreshadow the end. Because with solidity, concretizing every break chance he had in his favor, he managed the rhythms of the game until winning the first set by a resounding 6-1.
Despite it not being his favorite surface, Struff (26°) reacted. At least he tried. That is why the second set was much more even, although the Argentine knew how to control the power of the German’s forehand, leaving him 5-2 up on the scoreboard and with a chance to serve to close the match.
But Struff began to mentally dominate the game, drilling from the back of the court until reaching the tiebreak, where he won 7-3 to even the scores.
The third and final set was resolved when the European broke the Argentine’s serve in the sixth game (4-2). Báez – who saved 20 break points from his rival – was no longer able to return to the match and lost an unbeatable chance to score his first victory in the Monte Carlo main draw.
The defeat of the Bonarense, whom many considered as one of the candidates to go far (and perhaps even fight for the title) on Monegasque soil, was surprising, due to the great record he had this season on clay.
In the tournaments that were played on slow courts in South America, he finished with a record of 13 wins and two losses and two new titles. He was a semi-finalist in Córdobawhere he lost to the Italian-Argentine Luciano Darderi, then champion. He said goodbye in quarters in Buenos Aires ante Federico Coria. And then he achieved consecrations in the ATP 500 of Rio de Janeiro (venture to Mariano Navone in a 100% Argentine final) and in the 250 of Santiago de Chile (with victory against the local Alejandro Tabilo). Thus he brought his personal tally to six titles, five of which he conquered on dirt.
Before the start of that tour, he had also won the only game he played in the Qualifiers series of the Davis cup ante Kazakhstan in Rosario. It was in the fifth point to seal the agonizing victory of the Albiceleste team 3-2.
Thus, he had arrived in Monte Carlo with 14 celebrations and only two powder falls this season. But he could not extend his great moment and said goodbye too quickly to the Principality.
He ATP 500 de Barcelonastarting next Monday, will be Báez’s next stop on the European tour, in which he has never achieved consistency in the past.
Although in that stretch of the season he won his first title in 2022 (Estoril), that tournament was the only one in which he reached the semis. Last year, for example, his best performance was fourth in the Portuguese competition and in Lyon. And in the most important events, he did not manage to win more than one match per tournament: he fell in the debut in Montecarloin third wheel in Madrid (he was free in the first) and in the second in Roma.
Always focused on improving, beyond the results, Báez will surely seek to change that weak record in the rest of the tour that will culminate in Roland Garros.
The other Argentines in Monte Carlo
They were not all bad on this Sunday for the so-called ‘Argentine legion’. Because almost at the same time, the Rosario Federico Coria He beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the last round of qualifying and entered the main draw in the principality of Monaco. His rival will be the Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
He had more suffering Facundo Díaz Acostabecause he lost to the Indian Sumit Nagal in three sets (7-5, 2-6 and 6-2), but went through as a lucky loser, to meet the Spanish Roberto Bautista Agut, a very tough rival.
The other Argentines in the main draw are Francisco Cerúndolowho was waiting for a rival to emerge from the qualy, and Tomas Etcheverrywho will face the Chilean Nicholas Jarry.
Alcaraz and a bandage that caused concern
The other image of Sunday in Monte Carlo was on the training fields. There, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz was seen, who reappears in this tournament after losing number 2 in the ATP ranking to Jannick Sinner. But alarm bells went off when he failed to finish his practice, in which he showed off a strange dressing on his right arm.
Although in a video published on the social networks of the tournament itself he was seen hitting the ball with apparent normality, that decision sowed uncertainty about the status of the Murcian, who as one of the eight seeds will only debut between Tuesday and Wednesday.
“I have had some rest after Miami and I have already started training on land. I am a player who adapts very well to the surface, it does not take me long to play at my best level on a surface. The training on land has been very good “he said at a press conference on Saturday.
For his debut, wait for the winner between the Canadian Happy Auger-Also or a player from the previous phase.