Argentinian tennis player Sebastián Báez, who has had an excellent start to 2026, defeated American Marcos Giron in straight sets to advance to the final of the ATP 250 in Auckland, where he will face Czech player Jakub Mensik. Báez, who has already accumulated seven consecutive wins since the season began, won 6-1 and 6-4 in an hour and 27 minutes, to reach a decisive match on a hard court for the first time in almost two and a half years. The match was practically a monologue by Báez, who quickly took the lead with a near-perfect first set in which he broke his opponent's serve twice. In the second set, things got more complicated for him, as he struggled with a lack of efficiency whenever he had a break point (he only converted 2 of 13), but this did not prevent him from securing the victory as Giron broke his serve only once. Since the start of the season, Báez has been showing an extremely high level, holding his own from the baseline against each opponent and making very good use of the variations in his game. This is how he has accumulated seven consecutive wins in 2026, a streak that began last week at the United Cup and continued these days in Auckland. This Friday night, Báez will be in search of his eighth professional title, after those won in Estoril 2022, Córdoba, Kitzbühel, and Winston-Salem in 2023, Rio and Santiago 2024, and again in Rio last year. According to the Argentine News Agency, thanks to this very good performance in New Zealand, Báez has already secured a rise to 36th in the rankings, and if he wins, he will climb one more position. His rival in the final will be Mensik, who at 20 years old will be in search of his second ATP title, after the one he won last year at the Miami Masters 1000. The Czech's victim in the semifinals was Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, whom he defeated with a tight 7-6(9), 4-6 and 6-1. The ATP 250 Auckland final between Báez and Mensik is scheduled for 10 PM this Friday (Argentina time).
