Diaz Acosta shakes off nerves to defeat Wawrinka in Rio

Argentine Facundo Diaz Acosta shrugged off a potential Buenos Aires title hangover to defeat an error-prone Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Rio Open presented by Claro Tuesday night.

"I was very happy for my first title last week and now to play a legend like Stan is unbelievable," Diaz Acosta said.

"I was a little bit nervous and after the emotional week it took me a little time to get my focus and adjust to the conditions, which we not so similar. It lasted a little bit but I got used to it at the right time, so I am very happy."

After enduring a three-hour rain delay before taking to Court Guga Kuerten, the World No. 59 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings made a sluggish start in the heavy conditions as the players pushed through light rain in the early stages of the match.

Wawrinka raced to a 5-2 lead as the 23-year-old made a slew of unforced errors. But then 38-year-old Wawrinka began his own battle with unforced errors as his opponent won eight straight games to lead by a set and 3-0.

Wawrinka staged a remarkable comeback and had three break points to level the match at 4-4 in the second set, but his unforced error count (37 to Diaz Acosta's 23) told out in the end, as did his 2 of 9 break point conversion rate according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Diaz Acosta will next meet fifth-seeded Argentine Sebastian Baez, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over French qualifier Corentin Moutet.

It never gets old 😏

Ladies and gentlemen, the @stanwawrinka backhand@RioOpenOficial | #RioOpen pic.twitter.com/ObXKzXMqEH

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 21, 2024

German Yannick Hanfmann bounced back from a first-round exit last week in Buenos Aires to upset third seed Nicolas Jarry 6-1, 1-6, 7-5. The World No. 56 led 4-1 in the third set only to let the Chilean back into the match. But he claimed his fourth break of the match in the final game to level his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Jarry at 2-2.