Santiago [Chile], February 27 : Sixth seed Facundo Diaz Acosta produced a fine performance to beat fellow Argentine Pedro Cachin at the 2024 Chile Open in Santiago.
Cachin served for the match at 6-5 in the third set, but the recent Buenos Aires champion broke to force a tie-break, giving Cachin his eighth successive tour-level defeat with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(2) triumph in three hours and nine minutes.
Diaz Acosta will next play 2022 champion Pedro Martinez, who overcame Italian wild card Francesco Passaro 6-4, 6-1 with five service breaks. Martinez hadn't won a clay-court match since upsetting Cristian Garin in Rio de Janeiro the previous year.
Federico Coria of Argentina, who opened the tour with back-to-back semi-finals in Cordoba and Buenos Aires, defeated Slovakian qualifier Alex Molcan 6-1, 7-6(1), after losing in the first round in Rio de Janeiro the week before.
"It was a very tough match, Pedro served very good. Mentally it was a little bit tough for me at first but I was able to stay in the match and that was the key to get the win today. My serve and forehand were pretty good at the end. I just need to stay focused and get more consistency in the game," Diaz Acosta said as quoted by ATP.
Elsewhere, Ben Shelton survived a stern test from tricky Briton Daniel Evans and the American found a way into the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco 2-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) after two hours and 45 minutes.
"I'm really glad to come out here and hopefully be a positive light for the people of Acapulco. I wasn't sure how big the crowd was going to be coming out today, but the people really showed out and it just shows the kind of culture they have here in Acapulco, how much they love sport and it just makes it one of the most fun places to play," Shelton said as quoted by ATP.
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