Sebastian Baez mustered up a clean performance Saturday to win the Winston-Salem Open and extend his winning streak to 10 matches after also claiming the ATP 250 event in Kitzbühel three weeks ago.
The Argentine hoisted the trophy in just one hour, 34 minutes defeating fifth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-3. He captured his first tour-level title on hard courts and third trophy of the season.
Despite a grueling three-hour, 19-minute semi-final against Borna Coric on Friday night, Baez showed no signs of exhaustion. He outlasted Lehecka in longer baseline rallies and struck the ball perfectly. Lehecka, who was competing in his first tour-level final, advanced to the final after receiving a walkover from Sebastian Korda. The American suffered an unfortunate ankle injury in the quarter-finals.
A crucial moment came when the 22-year-old Baez saved four break points when serving at 5-4 to close out a 54-minute opening set. Baez kept his head down despite trailing a break early in both sets. He proceeded to win four consecutive games from 0-2 in the second.
“[My coach told me] to keep going, try and stay focused on good things,” Baez said. “It was just a bad start, but happy with the result and all of this week.”
Lehecka tried to push the pace in the latter half of the match to apply pressure on the World No. 42, but was missing the consistency needed to crack open a steady Baez. He thrilled the crowd with several passing shots to improve to 2-0 in their head-to-head series.
Baez struck 28 winners and saved five of seven break points. He is the first Argentine to win three or more tour-level titles in a single season since Juan Martin del Potro in 2013.
Following his win, Baez will move to No. 32 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday. He will be just two spots short of tying his career-high. Baez will look forward to maintaining his form at the US Open. The Argentine will begin his campaign against Coric in the first round.
“It’s nice to have that confidence, but now I have to think about my recovery after this week, and then after I will think about the US Open,” Baez said. “I have a few days to recover and to focus again on a new tournament.”
Lehecka was shooting to become the first Czech to win a tour-level title since 2020. A finalist at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals, Lehecka will move up to a career-high of No. 30 on Monday. He will face Aslan Karatsev in the first round at Flushing Meadows.
“Hopefully the next tournament will be a bit more happier for me, but still a good week, positive week ahead of New York. A lot of good memories from here,” said Lehecka.
Stay tuned for more breaking tennis coverage and updates.
Featured Image courtesy of Winston-Salem Open
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