Cameron Norrie, the defending champion, was eliminated from the Rio Open on Saturday after losing in straight sets to qualifier Mariano Navone. The Argentine, 22, defeated the second-seeded British player 6-4, 6-2 to go to his first tour-level final, where he will face compatriot Sebastián Báez.
Norrie didn’t put up much of a fight against the 113th-ranked Mariano Navone, despite becoming the favourite to win the clay-court tournament after Carlos Alcaraz, Stan Wawrinka, and Nicolás Jarry were all defeated or retired due to injuries. Also read: Oscar-Winning Director Asif Kapadia to direct Prime Video doc on Roger Federer
“Argentina has many players and many very good players,” the 30th-ranked Báez said. “We are using this [tournament] to climb up, we are young. I like to play in Rio, come to Brazil. When I don’t play against a Brazilian I feel like a local.”
In the previous semifinal, fifth-seeded Báez defeated Argentine compatriot Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-0 to reach to his fifth and highest tour-level final. Also read: Nicolas Jarry upsets Carlos Alcaraz to reach Argentina Open final