Rio Open Final Round-Up: Tomas Etcheverry completes comeback to beat Tabilo for first ATP title

Tomas Martin Etcheverry reached an epic final at the Rio Open this Sunday against Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, in a classic matchup between South American countries. A duel marked by Etcheverry’s great comeback and Tabilo’s drop in performance, who wasted a break advantage in the second set, before the Argentine claimed victory 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

With constant rain in Rio, several matches suffered suspensions throughout the week, and in fact Etcheverry had to play his semifinal match against Vit Kopriva just a few hours earlier, coming back from a set down in two tight tie-breaks. Barely past the emotions of the first match, after only two hours Etcheverry returned to the court to contest the match for the trophy.

Etcheverry claims the first title of his career—after three previous finals lost—and he does so in no less than an ATP 500, although with the curiosity that he did not face any rival from the top 60 during his run through the tournament.

The Golden Swing is in decline with a lack of major figures, and it has essentially become a swing primarily for South American players and some European specialists. The 8th seed of the tournament defeated rivals such as Francisco Comesaña (No. 63), Vilius Gaubas (No. 126), Jaime Faria (No. 147), and Vit Kopriva (No. 87) on his way to the final.

Although both were on court this Sunday contesting the semifinals, the Argentine arrived more physically affected—especially after the heat rule suspension in his third set against Vit Kopriva—which gave Tabilo more time to recover.

It was a duel worthy of the South American swing, full of rallies between two of the most relevant names in South American tennis. Etcheverry achieves an important advance in the ranking of 18 spots to No. 33, while Tabilo rises 26 positions to reach No. 42 in the ATP ranking this Monday—marking a return to the top 50 after almost a year.

The first set began with a break from Etcheverry who advanced quickly, but in the next game Tabilo recovered the break to level the score. The Chilean took control at the start, taking advantage of his several extra hours of rest, and won four consecutive games, appearing especially determined to win his service games with short points.

However, things would not be so easy to advance in the set, and several games became more complicated for both players, who had to save multiple break points in the following games. Etcheverry saved twelve break points at 2-5 but finally Tabilo closed the set 6-3 on his serve—winning 64% of points on serve against only 46% effectiveness from Etcheverry.

The second set started strongly for the Chilean, who took the first break and advanced decisively to 3-1. Appearing better physically, it seemed the former top-20 would maintain dominance, but the reaction from Etcheverry came, who gained conviction with his own serve and began the comeback. Minutes later he secured the break in his favor and brought the match back to parity.

When the score was 4-4, Tabilo had several opportunities to break—which would have left him one game from victory—but he could not convert them. The Chilean also saved a set point against him shortly after with the score at 5-6, sending everything to a tie-break. There Etcheverry grew strong and took the set 7-6(3), winning six of the last seven points played.

At this point, it seemed that Tabilo was the one with the advantage for the third set, especially considering the sheer amount of time he had spent on court over the previous days. He started with a strong service game and sent a message to his rival that he was still physically capable of going for the triumph.

However, the match lost momentum and turned more into errors from both sides, with several rallies ending in forced mistakes. Both had opportunities to break, and Etcheverry was the first to take advantage—around the third game of the set. From there, both held their service games, with the Argentine no longer pushing too much from the return and focusing his energy on holding his service games firmly. Tabilo found no answers and ran out of options, while Etcheverry clung to his serve to close the triumph 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4.

There was a total of 51 unforced errors from Etcheverry against ‘only’ 30 from Tabilo—a difference of more than 20—but he managed to compensate with a good number of winners: 46 compared to 33 for Tabilo.