Argentina Open: Darderi beats Barrios to reach last eight

Buenos Aires, Feb 13 (IANS) Italian second seed Luciano Darderi advanced to the Argentina Open quarterfinals on Friday with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Chile Tomas Barrios.

World No. 22 Darderi hit six aces and won 95 percent of his first service points to take the match in an hour and 22 minutes on the outdoor clay of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.

Barrios, who is ranked 114th, won only 47 percent of points on his first serve and committed 22 unforced errors.

It the first time Ive played on clay in five months and I felt really comfortable, said 23-year-old Darderi, who is seeking his fifth career title.

Today was a really good match and I felt good. In the second set, he started to play better but Im just happy to be in the quarterfinals here again.

Darderi will meet Pedro Martinez in the next round after the Spaniard overcame local favorite Juan Cerundolo 7-6 (5), 6-4.

In other round-of-16 matches, Argentine Camilo Ugo Carabelli beat compatriot Mariano Navone 6-2, 7-5, and another local hope, Sebastian Baez, overcame Peru Ignacio Buse 6-4, 6-3.

In addition to that, former Argentina and Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli has been sacked by Atletico Mineiro after a poor start to the Brazilian Serie A season, the club said on Thursday.

The announcement followed Atletico 3-3 home draw with newly promoted Remo on Wednesday, a result that left the Belo Horizonte side 15th in the 20-team standings with two points from three games.

After a meeting on Thursday afternoon, the parties reached an agreement to end the coach tenure, Atletico said in a statement on its official website.

Sampaoli led Atletico to 10 wins, 16 draws and eight defeats in his second spell with the club, having also been in charge in 2020 and 2021.

Assistant manager Lucas Goncalves will take over on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is named, Atletico said.

--IANS

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