Alejandro Tabilo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry set up a South American final at the Rio Open after two very different semifinal stories: one was efficient and controlled, the other was a rain-disrupted marathon decided in tiebreaks.
Semifinal 1: Etcheverry def. Kopriva 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(4)
Etcheverry dropped the first set but stayed composed as conditions and scheduling chaos hit Rio, with rain forcing the match to be suspended and finished on Sunday.
When play resumed, he handled the biggest points better and won both tiebreaks to reach the final, in what the tournament described as a record-long main-draw match in South America (3h57m).
Semifinal 2: Tabilo def. Buse 6-3, 6-3
Tabilo produced a clean, businesslike performance, beating Ignacio Buse in 1 hour 12 minutes to reach the biggest final of his career at this event.
Buse had been one of the stories of the week, but Tabilo never let the match turn into a scramble, keeping his level steady from start to finish.
Final preview: Tabilo vs Etcheverry
Tabilo enters fresher after a straight-sets win, while Etcheverry comes in battle-tested after two tiebreak sets and a stop-start semifinal.
The key question is whether Tabilo can impose early control and avoid a tight finish, because Etcheverry has already shown he can hold his nerve when the match gets squeezed into a few critical points.
UPDATE – Final Result:
Tomás Martín Etcheverry defeated Alejandro Tabilo 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 to win the Rio Open 2026 title after playing nearly 7 hours in one day. Read full final recap →
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