Argentine Sebastian Baez beat Frenchman Alexandre Müller on Sunday night (23) at the Guga Kuerten court at the Jockey Club to become the first two -time Open River champion on the simple editions of the tournament.
Baez’s victory over the person responsible for eliminating Brazilian João Fonseca in the first round was 2 sets to 0, with partials from 6/2 and 6/3, in 1h26 starting. It was the tenth triumph followed by the Argentine in the carioca clay, considering the editions of 2024- when defeated Mariano Navone in the final- and 2025.
With the conquest, the current 31st in the world in the ranking of ATP (Association of Professional Tennismen) left Argentina tied with Spain as the two largest winners of the main ATP level tournament in South America.
Prior to Baez’s double, Diego Schwartzman had won in 2018. For Spain, Rafael Nadal (2014), David Ferrer (2015) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022).
Professional since 2016, Baez has won five ATP 250 tournaments throughout his career-Style (Portugal), Winston-Salem (United States), Kitzbuhel (Austria), Cordoba (Argentina) and Santiago (Chile)-and had the best ranking position In June 2024, when it became the 18th in the world.
For the conquest of the Open River, in addition to the 500 points that defended the past edition, the Argentine will receive a prize of US $ 448 thousand (R $ 2.5 million).
In the early hours of Sunday, Brazilian Rafael Matos had become the first two -time Open River champion, earning the title of pairs alongside Marcelo Melo, against Spanish Pedro Martínez and Jaume Munar. In 2024, Matos won playing with the Colombian Nicolas Barrientos.
