Tomás Martín Etcheverry from La Plata, top favorite for the title, advanced this Thursday to the semifinals of the ATP 250 tennis tournament in Kitzbühel, in Austria, after beating Colombian Daniel Elahí Galán 6-7 (6), 6-3 and 6- 4, and the contest will have an Argentine tennis player in the final, since his next rival will be Sebastián Báez, who had previously beaten the Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3.
Etcheverry, ranked 34th in the world ranking, won a tough match against Galán (76) that lasted 3 hours and 10 minutes, to reach his third semifinal in 2023, the previous ones in Santiago, Chile, and Houston, tournaments in which he lost only in the final.
The player from La Plata, a quarterfinalist this year at Roland Garros, will play this Friday against Báez (72), from Buenos Aires, winner of the previous quarterfinal match against Slovakian Molcan (120) in straight sets and after 1 and 26 minutes of play. For Báez it is also his third semifinal of the year, after the previous ones at the Córdoba Open, where he became champion, and Santiago, Chile.
In the background between the two they are equal with a victory for each one, since Báez beat him last year in Lyon, and Etcheverry last February in Santiago.
Another Argentine, Pedro Cachín (54) from Cordoba, lost his quarterfinal match against Serbian Laslo Djere (38) 6-4, 6-2, after 1 hour and 20 minutes of contention.
The Kitzbühel Open, which will distribute prizes of 630,705 euros and closes the European tour on brick dust, began to be played in 1968 and throughout its history it has had seven Argentine champions. Guillermo Vilas was crowned champion in the 1977, 1980, 1982 and 1983 editions; while Horacio de la Peña did it in 1990; Guillermo Coria in 2003; Gaston Gaudio in 2005; Agustín Calleri in 2006; Juan Mónaco in 2007 and Juan Martín Del Potro in 2008.
2023-08-03 23:32:13
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