The Argentine international is making headlines after displaying a masterclass performance at the center court. Sebastian Baez reached his third tour-level semi-final on Friday, defeating Dominic Thiem ( 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4) in a hard-fought battle at the Nordea Open in Bastad.
The Argentine absorbed Thiem’s heavy ball striking and recovered from a match point on the Austrian’s serve at 5-4 in the second set to win in two hours and 51 minutes.
The 21-year-old Baez won his first tour-level title on clay earlier in April at Estoril and has risen to No. 31 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He is making his Bastad debut and will face second seed Andrey Rublev next.
Rublev secured his place in the semi-finals with a (7-5, 6-4) victory over Laslo Djere in the day’s final match. For much of the one-hour, 35-minute match, Djere provided strong resistance, particularly in the final game.
As his opponent attempted to serve out the match, Djere generated four break points, but the World No. 8 held firm to win on his third match point.
