Argentina’s Mariano Navone and Italy’s Mattia Bellucci will face off this Sunday in the final of the Republica Dominicana Open – Copa Cap Cana, after both players secured semifinal victories on Saturday.

Navone booked his place in the championship match after battling past Belgium’s Alexander Blockx in a three-set thriller. The 25-year-old Argentine recovered from a slow start to claim a 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(3) victory after two hours and 45 minutes on court. For Navone, the result marks the most important hard-court final of his career so far, as he looks to capture his first title on the surface following eight ATP Challenger triumphs on clay.

Yet ANOTHER Cap Cana classic @marianonavone1 edges past Blockx 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) final!#ATPChallenger | @AATenis pic.twitter.com/QON1eoxgJ2

— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) March 14, 2026

“I had been looking for a result like this on hard courts for a long, long time. I’m very happy with how things are going. It’s much nicer to reach the weekend still playing than to be heading home every Wednesday,” Navone said.

“We learned to play on hard courts later in our careers. Argentine players grow up on clay, but here in Cap Cana I find conditions that suit me well because the ball bounces higher.”

His opponent will be Bellucci, who closed out the day’s action with a solid straight-sets win over Australia’s Adam Walton. The 24-year-old Italian, currently ranked No. 94 in the world, prevailed 6–3, 7–5 in one hour and 36 minutes, relying heavily on the strength of his serve to halt Walton’s comeback attempt in the second set.

Sunday’s championship match will mark the first meeting between Navone and Bellucci, with both players aiming to lift the 2026 Copa Cap Cana trophy.

Doubles final decided

In the doubles draw, both semifinals were decided by match tie-breaks to determine the teams that will compete for the title on Sunday.

The pair of Marcelo Demoliner from Brazil and Romain Arneodo of Monaco defeated Dutchman Jean-Julien Rojer and Brazilian Marcelo Meloo 1–6, 7–5, 10–5 in a closely contested match. Demoliner and Arneodo relied on an effective first serve, winning 81 per cent of their first-serve points and staging a comeback in the second set to force the decisive super tie-break.

In the other semifinal, US-American Trey Hilderbrand and Daniel Cukierman of Israel advanced after defeating N. Sriram Balaji from India and Austria’s Neil Oberleitner 3–6, 7–6(5), 10–8. After dropping the opening set, Hilderbrand and Cukierman rallied to edge a tight second-set tiebreak before sealing the victory in the match tie-break to reach the final.