Roberto Carballes Baena knocks off Dan Evans in Marrakech

James Richardson
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Roberto Carballes Baena celebrates his epic victory over Denis Shapovalov Roberto Carballes Baena delighted

Roberto Carballes Baena booked his second career ATP Tour final with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over British No 2 Dan Evans.

The unseeded Carballes Baena has defeated three seeds on his way to the final and came from behind to upset the highest-ranked player left in the Grand Prix Hassan II.

The Spaniard is now 10-3 in Marrakech, owning a previous semi-final run in 2014 as a qualifier and having reached the quarter-finals last season.

“I don’t know why, but all the time that I come here I think I play my best tennis,” said Carballes Baena after the biggest win of his season to date.

“I won my first Challenger also here [in Morocco]. I feel very good and I will try to do a good match tomorrow.”

Carballes Baena produced a five-game surge to rally from 3-4 in the second set. He hadn’t broken serve since the first game, but he seized back to back breaks to win the second frame and take a 2-0 lead in the deciding set.

As his consistent baseline play continued to pay dividends, the Spaniard’s third break of the match gave him a 4-1 lead, which he would have to fight hard to consolidate. By saving a break point in the subsequent service game he moved to within one game of a place in the final.

Carballes Baena, who claimed his lone prior title match in Quito in 2018, won his first match this season against a Top 35 opponent in what was his first tour-level semi-final since reaching the final four in Bastad in 2021.

He said that he would be sticking around to watch the other semi-final contested by a pair of unseeded players in Alexandre Muller and Pavel Kotov.

“I will try to see the match now a little bit,” the Spaniard said. “They are playing very well so for sure it will be a very tough match tomorrow.”

The Grand Prix Hassan II began as an ATP Challenger event in 1984 and became a full ATP Tour event in 1990.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI is the sole patron of the competition. Marrakech is now the only ATP Tour stop on the African continent, having moved from Casablanca in 2016.

Hicham Arazi in 1997 and Younes El Aynaoui in 2002 are the only Moroccans to have won the title in their own nation.

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