Tomas Martin Etcheverry records 100th win of career to reach Rio de Janeiro semifinals

Tomas Martin Etcheverry’s quest for his first ATP title continued in Rio de Janeiro on Friday as he moved smoothly into the semifinals with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Jaime Faria.

And that victory over the Portuguese was a special one, as it was actually the 100th tour-level win of his career.

Etcheverry is the sixth Argentinian man born in 1990 or later to reach that milestone, and just the second Argentinian man born in 1999 or later to do it, after Sebastian Baez.

ARGENTINIAN MEN BORN IN 1990 OR LATER WITH 100+ CAREER WINS (tour-level):

• 251: Diego Schwartzman [born in 1992, retired]
• 164: Federico Delbonis [born in 1990, retired]
• 148: Francisco Cerundolo [born in 1998]
• 128: Guido Pella [born in 1990, retired]
• 118: Sebastian Baez [born in 2000]
• 100: Tomas Martin Etcheverry [born in 1999]

With his results this week, Etcheverry will also jump past Baez to become the new Argentinian No. 2 when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday, after Cerundolo.

For the second straight year, Faria had reached the quarterfinals in Rio as a lucky loser, and early on it looked like maybe this time he would go one step further, as he held a total of five break points in the first set—one with Etcheverry serving at 2-all, two more at 3-all and another two at 4-all. But he didn’t convert on any of them, and Etcheverry snuck out the marathon 71-minute first set in a tie-break.

The two traded holds for the first eight games of the second set without a single break point, then Etcheverry clinched the first break of the match for 5-4 and then served it out, ripping one last crosscourt forehand that Faria missed into the net.

In the end, the stat that jumped out was those break points—Etcheverry finished 1/2, while Faria finished 0/5.

Etcheverry is now two wins away from the first ATP title of his career, having previously reached three ATP finals, all on clay and finishing runner-up at all three of them, two in 2023 at Santiago (to Nicolas Jarry) and Houston (to Frances Tiafoe) and one in 2024 at Lyon (to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard).

The only seed left in the draw at No. 8, awaiting Etcheverry in the semifinals will be unseeded Czech Vit Kopriva, a 6-4, 6-4 winner earlier in the day over Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

While Etcheverry is the only seed left in Rio, there are still some big names left on the other half of the draw, most notably Matteo Berrettini—a former No. 6, currently ranked No. 57—who played his quarterfinal match later in the day against Ignacio Buse, conqueror of Joao Fonseca the night before.

Former Top 20 player Alejandro Tabilo is also still in the draw. He played Thiago Agustin Tirante in his quarterfinal match.