Surging Facundo Diaz Acosta tops Wawrinka in Rio
Facundo Diaz Acosta beat Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday night. He’ll play Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 5 seed, in the next round
(Action Plus/Panoramic)
Argentinian Facundo Diaz Acosta stretched his personal winning streak to six victories on Tuesday in Rio, handing Swiss legend Stan Wawrinka a 7-5, 6-4 defeat to advance to the second round of the Rio Open at the Jockey Club Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday night.
It was another stellar performance for the man who raised the trophy on Sunday in Buenos Aires. He rallied from 5-2 down in the opening set, winning 11 of the final 15 games to improve to 8-1 in February and deny 38-year-old Wawrinka the right to call himself the oldest player to win a match at the Rio Open.
Wawrinka attempted a comeback from 3-0 double-break down in the second set, and nearly pulled it off. He was within a break and had three break points for 4-4, but Diaz Acosta closed the door and eventually served out the victory two games later.
Remarkably Diaz Acosta entered this month with two ATP wins to his name – he now has 10, and his last six victories have all come in straight sets.
Acosta, ranked No 59, will face Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 5 seed, next.
Rio de Janeiro ATP 500, other first-round results (Jockey Club Brasileiro, clay, USD 2.100.230, most recent results first):
- Federico Coria vs. Mariano Navone
- Arthur Fils vs. Joao Fonseca
- Carlos Alcaraz vs. Thiago Monteiro
- Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Cristian Garin: tuesday
- Yannick Hanfmann vs. Nicolas Jarry
- Dusan Lajovic vs. Daniel Elahi Galan: tuesday
- Sebastian Baez beat Corentin Moutet (Q): 6-4, 6-3
- Felipe Meligeni Alves (Q) beat Pedro Cachin: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
- Jaume Munar beat Sebastian Ofner (8): 6-3, 6-1
- Thiago Seyboth Wild beat Alejandro Tabilo: 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Laslo Djere (6) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-3, 6-1
- Cameron Norrie (2) beat Hugo Dellien: 6-3, 6-2
- Tomas Barrios Vera beat Gustavo Heide (WC): 7-5, 6-3
- Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Juan Pablo Varillas: 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
- Francisco Cerundolo (4) beat Francisco Comesana (Q): 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
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