Sebastian Baez and Flavio Cobolli wasted little time notching semi-final victories on Saturday afternoon at the Tiriac Open presented by UniCredit Bank.
Top seed Baez snapped 2024 champion Marton Fucsovics’ eight-match Bucharest winning streak with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 victory in just 84 minutes at the clay-court ATP 250. Baez saved all six break points he faced against Fucsovics, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to charge into the championship match with his first straight-sets win of the week.
“It’s my first time here, so I’m happy to be here and to play at this level,” said debutant Baez, who tied Felix Auger-Aliassime for most ATP Tour final appearances in 2025 (three) with his semi-final triumph. “I think today I played very well, so I’m happy to be in the final… I will talk to my coach about the good things and the bad things, try to recover and we will see how it goes tomorrow.”
It was a case of ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ for Cobolli, who needed just 64 minutes for his 6-3, 6-0 victory against Damir Dzumhur. Third seed Cobolli arrived in Bucharest on an eight-match tour-level losing streak but is now into his second tour-level final after his run at the Washington, D.C. ATP 500 last July.
“I think I’m starting to like this court and this country,” said Cobolli, who was roared on by plenty of Italian fans in the crowd against Dzumhur. “Every match I play here, I feel like I’m at home.”
Sunday’s final will be the first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the No. 36 in the PIF ATP Rankings Baez and No. 45 Cobolli.
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