Lorenzo Sonego rallied past Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 to advance to the quarter finals at the Cordoba Open. Sonego won 83 % of his first serve points.
Carballes Baena earned an early break in the first game and held his serve. The Spaniard won his first three service games faced the first point on his serve in the eighth game to seal the first set 6-4.
Sonego held his first service games in the second set and earned his first break point in the eighth game with a passing shot, but he did not convert it, when he hit his forehand into the net. Carballes Baena saved another break point in the 12th game to force the second set to the tie-break. Sonego earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-1.
Sonego earned two breaks in the third and fifth games to close out the third set 6-2. The Italian player set up a quarter final match against Albert Ramos Vinolas, who was leading 6-4 2-3, when his Peruvian rival Juan Pablo Varillas was forced to withdraw from the match due to ankle injury.
“I played him in Rio de Janeiro and lost to him. He is a great player with big experience and it will be a really tough match for sure. We will see tomorrow”, said Sonego.
Sebastian Baez faced an uphill task when he went down a set, but he fought back from one set down to beat Cristian Garin 4-6 6-1 6-1.
Both players traded breaks twice in the first set to draw level to 4-4. Garin earned his third break in the 10th game to win the first set 6-4.
The second set started with a trade of breaks in the first two games. Baez broke three times to win the second set 6-1. The home player earned two breaks in the second and sixth games to cruise through to a 6-1 win in the the third set.
Baez, who reached the semifinals at the Next Gen ATP Finals, broke eight times to reach the quarter finals.
Baez will take on Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo, who cruised past Carlos Taberner 6-2 6-4. “I think in the first set I had a lot of chances and I was maybe a little bit more nervous than Garin. After that I tried to be calm, tried to do better. I thought I could do it. I thought I could do it. For that reason the result was for me today”, said Baez.
