Santiago 2026 ATP 250 - Tournament Preview

Here is my Preview of the Santiago ATP 250 tournament (BCI Seguros Chile Open).

Santiago is played on clay, under quick conditions.

Speed Statistics

 These are the averages of tha last 5 years:

• 68.8% Points won on the first serve
• 76.9% Service Holds
• 0.35 Aces/Game
• 0.17 TB/Set

Why are Santiago clay courts quick? The reason is the altitude, around 560 m. above the sea level.

Past Winners 

2025:Djere b. Baez

2024: Baez d. Tabilo

2023: Jarry d. Etcheverry

2022: P. Martínez d. Baez

2021: Garin d. Bagnis

There have been 11 different champions since 2010 (the tournament was not held between 2015 and 2019). Only one player has managed to repeat: Fernando González, who has lifted the trophy 4 times.

Weather

Next week’s forecast for Santiago suggests predominantly dry and warm weather with relatively low to moderate humidity and light to moderate winds. Daytime highs are generally expected around 28 – 33 °C (82 – 91 °F) with nighttime lows near 15 – 21 °C (59 – 70 °F), and rainfall chances are minimal. Overall relative humidity values typically range from about 20 % to 50 % during the day and up to around 55 % at night, indicating generally dry conditions for the season. Wind speeds are forecast to be mostly light to moderate, often around 5-15 km/h (3-9 mph).

Player Quotes

Monteiro, 2025: "The conditions here are different from Rio, much faster, the ball moves more."

Djere, 2025: "Some of the conditions here I like. I like to be aggressive, playing with a lot of topspin, so the altitude can make that a bit easier for me and tougher for my opponent. These conditions really suit my game."

Carballés, 2024:""What do you want me to tell you, that the tournament is sh*t? That on the court you can’t play? I think it’s a shame that an ATP is played on this court, I think it’s dangerous for the players. Hopefully this tournament will never be held again. This is not tennis, in the end this becomes the tombola. With fear all the time to get injured and with terrible bounces… and sometimes the ball doesn’t even bounce! I did feel that I could get injured. Every time I was forced I was afraid to tighten my leg because it was sinking all the time. In fact I ended up with discomfort in my back.". 

Garin, 2024: “I don't like to criticize the tournament but it is the worst court at the ATP level I have played on.” 😂

Darderi, 2024 (after beating Seyboth Wild): “I'm very happy about my performance but it was a bit different, because day and night is so different. Today was much more fast. I lost to him in Rio so I am happy to be in the quarter-finals. In Rio I was a little bit tired, but he was playing better than me because it is much slower. Today there is more altitude, that helped me as well as the serve.”

P. Martínez, 2024: "It’s never easy to win here because of the altitude. Chile is a country that I carry in my heart. I won the tournament two years ago and I have always had good times in Santiago. Every time I come I am happy.”

Munar, 2023: “It was difficult to play. It was so much faster than Monday night.”

JM Cerundolo, 2023: “The court is fast here, it is fast and hard to return here.”

 Hanfmann, 2023: “I think a tournament like this with altitude it helps to have matches. I have confidence with the qualifying wins, more matches and wins is always good.” “I love the altitude. It suits my game — maybe not at night — but even still it suits my game.”

Ramos, 2022: “At he beginning I was struggling with the altitude, the conditions were really fast today. They were much faster than my first match, which was played at night and after some rain.”

Martínez-Portero, 2022: “The conditions are quite different to Buenos Aires and Rio. I've been here since Friday. I had time to prepare for the match and get used to it. I like to play here. I have good feelings. I hope I can do it again tomorrow.”

Kecmanovic, 2022: “I like it when the conditions are a little bit faster so for me this is a lot better than in Rio.”

Ruud, 2020: “The height here is an important factor so I had to adapt during the last few days of training.”

Summary

The altitude makes the tournament conditions fast, despite it being on clay. 

In this regard, there seems to be quite a difference between the day, especially if it's sunny and hot, and the night, with much slower conditions. 

It is specially important to have some days of adaptation to the altitude. So be careful with players who have not had this adaptation period.

Watch out for players with good service, even if they are not purely clay court players, as they can perform well here.

In the past there have been many complaints from the players about the poor condition of the courts and the constant bad bounces of the ball, what frustrated many players.

Draws

Here’s the link to the Qualies and Main draws — you can check it anytime to follow the latest updates and see which players advance through each round.