Defending Champion Sebastián Báez Prevails Again at 2025 Rio Open
The Argentine contested the final against Alexandre Müller of France.
Defending champion Sebastián Báez of Argentina, 24, defeated Alexandre Müller of France, 28, to once again win the Men’s Singles title at the 2025 Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (an ATP 500 event). The score in the final was 6-2 and 6-3 in favor of Báez.
This was the first match Báez and Müller have ever played against each other on the ATP Tour. Today’s victory was the first title Báez has won on the 2025 ATP Tour and the seventh title of his career in single’s competition. Notably, this was the sixth title he has claimed from a clay court event and his second from a 500-level tournament. Moreover, this was the first time he has successfully defended a title. In fact, he becomes the first player to win the title twice in Rio since the event joined the tour in 2014.
Heading into this tournament, Báez was ranked as the Number 31 tennis player on the 2025 ATP Tour, while Müller carried the Number 60 designation. By winning in Rio, Báez has received 500 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Müller has picked up 330 points.
Báez was the fifth seed at this year’s edition of the competition. Furthermore, Müller entered the main draw as an unseeded player.
Báez arrived in the final after winning against lucky loser Román Andrés Burruchaga of Argentina (No. 137), Mariano Navone of Argentina (No. 46), qualifier Tseng Chun-hsin of Taiwan (No. 125), and lucky loser Camilo Ugo Carabelli of Argentina (No. 91). This was the ninth ATP final he has contested and his second at a 500-level event.
In the other half of the main draw, Müller defeated João Fonseca of Brazil (No. 68), eighth seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina (No. 43), fourth seed Francisco Cerúndolo of Argentina (No. 26), and Francisco Comesaña of Argentina (No. 86). This was the third ATP final he has competed in and his first at a 500-level event.
The revised rankings for the 2025 ATP Tour will be officially released on Monday, February 24. The tour will then play three tournaments from February 24-March 2: the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, UAE (an ATP 500 event), the Mexican Open in Acapulco, Mexico (an ATP 500 event), and the Chile Open in Santiago, Chile (an ATP 250 event). The competitions in Dubai and Acapulco will be played on hard courts while the tournament in Santiago will occur on red clay courts.
Ugo Humbert of France (No. 14) is the reigning champion at the Dubai Tennis Championships. He is looking to defend the title as the fifth seed at this year’s event. He will face off against Jiří Lehečka of the Czech Republic (No. 25) in the first round.
Elsewhere, Alex de Minaur of Australia (No. 8) is the two-time reigning champion at the Mexican Open. He has opted to instead compete in Dubai as that event’s second seed. He will play against Marin Čilić of Croatia (No. 192) in the first round. However, Müller has entered the main draw in Acapulco as an unseeded player. In the first round, he will compete against seventh seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States (No. 18).
And finally, Báez is the reigning champion at the Chile Open. He is attempting a title defense as the third seed at this year’s event. As such, he has received a bye into the second round of the competition.