Munar remains four points behind his second final

James Munar This Saturday he was one step away from playing the second final of his career (he lost the one in Marbella in 2019 against Pablo Carreño) and the possibility of entering the top-50 of the ranking for the first time. The 25-year-old Spaniard and 66th in the world he beat the chilean Nicholas Jarryfrom 27 and 87º, by 6-1 and 2-0 (with a subsequent 3-2 tie-break in the second set) in the ATP 250 semifinals in Santiago, and ended up losing by 1-6, 7-6 (4) and 6-1 in 2h37. The local player will have the opportunity to fight for his second title (he won in Bastad 2019) in the fourth final that he reaches. He is the second Chilean to play for the trophy in the tournament after Christian Garín, champion in 2021. His rival in Sunday’s match will be the Argentine Tomás Etcheverry, who was able to beat his compatriot Sebastián Báez (7-5 and 6-3 in 1h38). He dominates 1-0 in the face-to-face.

The first set was impeccable by Munar. He had break options on all of Jarry’s serves and converted them three times. With his service he only lost five points, so he did not have to face any break point. The Spaniard lured the very tall (1.98) from Santiago into the net to then pass it skillfully.

The second sleeve was not so easy for Jaume, although he started it with a tear and subsequent consolidation. But then, for the first time, he lost his serve and had to focus again on putting pressure on the return. Jarry was not having a particularly brilliant day with his best weapon, the service, although at the right moment he got him out of trouble to equalize (2-2) and stay in the fight. The power and intention of his strike improved, while his errors decreased, and for the first time in the match he took the lead on the scoreboard.

Change of trend

Enraged by the ugly attitude of the public, who cheered his failures, Munar found it difficult to maintain concentration. He tried to exploit his rival’s shortcomings, with low defensive shots and sliced ​​backhands, but the local idol held on with a brave serve-net tactic. However, as he served to win the second set, at 5-4, he ate a high return he thought wasn’t coming in, double-faulted and smashed a forehand on the tape. New Munar break and start over. The Spaniard secured the tiebreaker with difficulties. Jarry did not risk more and played in the background to reach at least that tie-break. At the start, Jaume missed a shot, but later recovered with a return at Nico’s feet. Then he made a mistake in an exchange and the option to close the victory escaped him.

Uneasy about the behavior of the spectators and the increasing level of his opponent, Munar missed the long second game of the third set. and since then he had to row against the current, with a break behind. He suffered every turn and couldn’t counter Jarry’s momentum. He leaves at least after completing a very good week in Chile, which has earned him, for now, nine places in the standings, up to 57th. Jarry rises to 69th and if he wins another game it will be 52nd, relegating Jaume to 58th.