Pedro Martinez broke new ground Sunday at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open, overcoming Sebastian Baez 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to lift his maiden ATP Tour trophy in Santiago.

The Spaniard, who was competing in his second tour-level final, backed up his hard-fought semi-final victory over home favourite Alejandro Tabilo with another battling performance against Baez in front of a lively crowd.

Martinez rallied from a break down in the second set as he mixed grit with quality to eventually triumph against the Argentine after two hours and 44 minutes. The World No. 72 has showcased his mental and physical strength throughout the week at the clay-court event, prevailing in the deciding set three times en route to the title. He will rise to a career-high No. 52 on Monday.

“I am very happy,” Martinez said in his on-court interview. “It was a big battle. He has played unbelievably well in the past year. I played very well at the end and am really happy. I always fight until the end and that can give you opportunities.”

The 24-year-old is the fourth Spaniard to win a tour-level trophy this year, joining Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Martinez is also the third first-time tour-level champion of the season, alongside Adelaide International 2 titlist Thanasi Kokkinakis and Open Sud de France victor Alexander Bublik.

Prior to his dream week in Santiago, the fourth seed had not advanced beyond the second round at an event this season. However, he flipped the form book in Chile to become the oldest champion in the tournament’s short three-year history.

Martinez has earned three ATP Challenger Tour crowns in his career. But he had never managed to crack the code at an ATP Tour tournament prior to his momentous win over Baez, losing to Norway’s Casper Ruud in his only previous championship match at this level in Kitzbühel in July.

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In a physical clash in Santiago, breaks were exchanged before the World No. 78 Baez gained control of the final, troubling Martinez with his variety as he mixed his heavy groundstrokes with deft drop shots to pull 5-3 ahead.

After sealing the first set on serve, a pumped-up Baez continued to put his foot down in the second set. However, he failed to close out the match after breaking and holding a 3-2 lead, with Martinez finding his range on his forehand to claw himself back into the clash.

In a tight final set, that swayed one way and then another, Baez rallied from 2-4 to level at 4-4. However, Martinez held firm, raising his level again as he converted his third match point to break and seal his win, falling to his knees in delight.

Baez, who competed at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in November, was playing in his first tour-level final, having battled past second seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas to reach the championship match.

The 21-year-old will rise to a career-high ranking on Monday, surpassing the No. 72 ATP Ranking he earned earlier this month. The seventh seed clinched three ATP Challenger Tour crowns in Chile last season, but was unable to find a way past the resilient Martinez.

Something had to give in the Acapulco final between Rafael Nadal and Cameron Norrie, each man entering with a variety of personal win streaks on the line.

In hot and humid conditions, Nadal didn’t give an inch in a 6-4, 6-4 victory. The Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC title is the 91st of Nadal’s storied career, and his fourth in Acapulco.

“It always has been a very special place,” Nadal said of the host city. “The energy that the people from Mexico bring to me is very unique.”

Fresh off a dominant victory over soon-to-be World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, Nadal extended his career-best start to an ATP Tour season to 15-0. Just as he did in 2020 in Acapulco, he won the title without dropping a set. Nadal has now won 13 sets in a row dating back to the Australian Open, and 20 straight in Acapulco.

The victory was also an 11th straight in ATP Tour finals; it was Nadal’s 128th appearance in a title match.

“I went through some very difficult moments during the match that I was able to save, and then I took advantage when I had the chances,” said Nadal, who is both the youngest and oldest champion at the event.

“I’m very pleased. It was a very important title for me, so I can’t be happier.”

Norrie saw an eight-match winning streak snapped after his Delray Beach title last week.

Taking the initiative 💪@RafaelNadal cracks a decisive forehand blow to move ahead of Cam Norrie in Acapulco. #AMT2022 pic.twitter.com/s1aM5FpcHC

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 27, 2022

The Briton did very little wrong in the opening set, but Nadal seized on a trio of misses in the fifth game to create the only break point of the set. He took matters into his own hands there, uncorking a forehand passing shot to land the first real blow of the contest.

“Cameron is a very solid player, a tricky player,” Nadal said post-match. “He makes you feel that you cannot play comfortably against him at all.”

Just as he did against Medvedev in the semis, Nadal scored an instant break to drive home the advantage in set two. 

But in the next game, one streak did end for Nadal: a run of 16 consecutive break points saved, dating back to his quarter-final win over Tommy Paul. Norrie earned his first break points of the match at 0/40, and after Nadal erased those three chances, Norrie buckled down in a 20-ball rally to take his fourth for 1-1.

Undeterred after falling behind 1-2, Nadal recovered the advantage and then some by reeling off four straight games to put himself on the brink of Acapulco glory.

At the second time of asking, he served out the title tilt after a sublime pick-up volley brought up match point.

Nadal has now bookended his record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title with two others, starting with an ATP 250 trophy at the Melbourne Summer set in January.

A seven-time ATP Tour singles champion, Stefanos Tsitsipas tasted doubles glory for the first time on Saturday night in Acapulco. 

Teaming with former doubles World No. 9 Feliciano Lopez, the Greek got it done with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

The champions never trailed in the game score of either set, but after leading by an early break in the opener, they saved two set and break points at 4-5 on the Lopez serve, including one on a sudden-death point.

After breaking in the ensuing game, the Spanish/Greek duo won another sudden-death point, this one doubling as a set point of their own. After a Lopez drop volley opened the court, Tsitsipas fired a backhand winner to avoid a tie-break.

What a point! 💪 @steftsitsipas and @feliciano_lopez making some magic happen in the final at #AMT2022 pic.twitter.com/rsOyfj2pXz Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 27, 2022

The heart of the second-set action came early, as both teams created break points in consecutive games. After Lopez/Tsitsipas broke on their second chance for 2-1, they erased two break points to consolidate on the Greek’s serve. Those were the last break chances of the match, with the champions saving six of seven in the contest.

Lopez sealed victory with an ace, the pair’s sixth of the match, earning a warm embrace from his teammate.

The Spaniard is now a six-time ATP Tour doubles champion, improving his record to 6-6 in finals. Tsitsipas levels at 1-1 after defeat in the 2019 Miami final with partner Wesley Koolhof.

Tsitsipas said: “It will give me confidence to win this title here in Acapulco. We had a lot of fun with Feliciano playing in front of many Mexican fans this week. We plan to team up again in the future.”

Lopez said: “It was at the Laver Cup that we spoke about playing some doubles together. We did well in Vienna losing to the Colombians and here we won our first title together. I just love playing in Mexico.”

Sebastian Baez’s rapid rise does not appear to be slowing down any time soon.

The Argentine, who competed in last year’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, reached his first ATP Tour final on Saturday when he battled past Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago.

“I feel good because today was such a tough match because Ramos has a lot of experience, he’s a great player,” Baez said. “I’m happy to have won this match and I have a new opportunity tomorrow.”

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Baez will face home favourite and recent Cordoba finalist Alejandro Tabilo or Spaniard Pedro Martinez for the trophy. The winner will become a first-time ATP Tour titlist.

The seventh seed in Santiago, Baez had to work hard to make the championship clash. The 21-year-old saved 10 of the 12 break points he faced against second-seeded Ramos-Vinolas to triumph after two hours and 33 minutes.

“[The match] had a lot of important moments, not just in the first or in the third set, because it was all the match,” Baez said. “All the match was so close. In some moments, maybe today I had a little bit of luck.”

The key was second-serve success. Baez won 65 per cent of his second-serve points compared to 50 per cent for Ramos-Vinolas. That helped the Argentine take a 2-0 ATP Head2Head lead against the 31-year-old lefty, whom he also defeated at this year’s Australian Open.

Baez began last season outside the Top 300 of the ATP Rankings. He reached a career-high No. 72 earlier this month and is projected to climb higher than that on Monday thanks to his efforts in Chile.

Did You Know?
Baez improved to 26-2 in Chile at all levels since the beginning of last season.

After recent struggles on the South American clay, Rafael Matos and Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves ended the Golden Swing in style on Saturday.

The Brazilians clinched their second ATP Tour title in Santiago, coming through two tie-breaks to defeat Andre Goransson and Nathaniel Lammons 7-6(8), 7-6(3) in one hour, 52 minutes, and claim victory at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.

After taking the title, Matos acknowledged that a good off-court relationship was helping the pair’s on-court performance. “It was a very good week,” he said. “I’m very happy with this second title playing with Felipe, he’s a good friend of mine, I always enjoy playing with him and the time outside the court too. I’m just happy.”

Matos and Meligeni Rodrigues Alves had won just one match across the tournaments in Cordoba, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, but they found their form in Santiago to lift their first trophy since their sensational title run on tour-level debut in Cordoba in 2021.

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Goransson and Lammons, hunting their first ATP Tour title as a pair, looked to be heading to the first set at 5-4, 40/15 on their own serve, but Matos and Meligeni Rodrigues Alves dug deep to save three set points and reclaim the break. The top seeds then fended off another set point for Goransson and Lammons before taking the tie-break 10/8.

The second set was even tighter, but the crucial moment came with Matos and Meligeni Rodrigues Alves serving at 5-5. The Brazilians saved the only break points of the set and took the momentum with them into another tie-break, reeling off four points from 3/3 to take the title on their Santiago debut.

Matos and Meligeni Rodrigues Alves produced a solid match on serve, winning 80 per cent (47/59) of points behind their first delivery, as they avenged defeat in their only previous meeting with Goransson and Lammons in the final of the 2021 Biella ATP Challenger Tour event.

The Brazilians were even more delighted to win a title after their participation in the tournament almost never happened. “It was actually a pretty crazy week,” said Meligeni Rodrigues Alves. “Rafa could only come to Chile on Wednesday and we didn’t play our best tennis in the first match, but we wanted so bad to win and we were improving every match, fighting, and I think at the end of the week we played our best match in the final.

“I’m really happy to play with Rafa again [and] get the second title together.”

Even by his own high standards, Andrey Rublev is enjoying the month of his life.

The Russian produced one of the performances of the season to surge to the title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, ending Jiri Vesely’s dream run in the desert with a 6-3, 6-4 win in Saturday’s championship match.

The 80-minute victory made it 13 matches won in a row for Rublev across singles and doubles, after the Russian won both titles in Marseille before his run in Dubai.

The No. 123-ranked Vesely was bidding to become the first qualifier to win the Dubai title, but he was unable to recreate the heroics from his stirring victories over Doha champion Roberto Bautista Agut, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov that earned him a spot in the final.

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Having battled through tough three-setters in his previous three matches, Rublev looked to have no intention of working overtime again in the final. He raced out the blocks, breaking Vesely in the fourth game, and did not drop a point behind his first serve as he charged to the first set.

There appeared to be little Vesely could do as the World No. 7 continued to produce a stunning level in the second set. Rublev broke in the opening game, but the Czech showed real fight to reclaim it for 3-3, pumping up the delighted crowd as he tried to get back into the match.

Rublev responded by knocking the wind out of the Vesely resistance, immediately breaking again and going on to seal a comfortable victory as two-time ATP Tour title-winner Vesely struggled to cope with the Russian’s combination of power and consistency. Rublev ended the match with 28 winners to Vesely’s 21, and only struck eight unforced errors as he dominated from the baseline.

The win means Rublev’s semi-final defeat to Felix Auger-Aliassime in Rotterdam was his only singles loss across three tournaments in February. The Dubai title is the Russian’s 10th on the ATP Tour and extends his match record in 2022 to 10-2.

Tim Puetz and Michael Venus are the Match Tie-break kings of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

The fourth seeds completed a full week of final-set victories on Saturday to win the ATP 500 event in Dubai. and they saved the best until last, saving three match points before securing a dramatic 6-3, 6-7(5), 16-14 win over top-ranked Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic.

Puetz and Venus had recovered from dropping the first set in all three of their matches on the way to the final, but they converted the only break point of the opener to take control early in the championship match.

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Top-seeded Mektic and Pavic were runners-up in Dubai in 2021 and gave themselves a chance to go one better this year as they struck back to take the second set, leaving it to a mammoth Match Tie-break to separate the two teams.

It was Puetz and Venus that held their nerve to snatch victory, converting their fourth match point as the New Zealander tucked away a forehand volley to clinch the pair’s third ATP Tour title.

Taking the glory 🏆

Michael Venus and Tim Puetz are victorious in Dubai, winning 6-3 6-7 16-14 against Mektic and Pavic to claim the title!#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/lqGVbRKuID

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 26, 2022

Staying solid on serve proved key to victory for Puetz and Venus, as they fired 11 aces and remained unbroken to leave Mektic and Pavic still searching for their first title in 2022.

The title was Venus’ second in Dubai, the World No. 14 also having lifted the trophy in 2020 with John Peers, while Puetz was making his debut at the event.