The holiday and the level of play of the AAT Challenger Santander from Villa María filled the stands Sport Social Clubwhich hosted a day full of excitement and great high-level tennis matches on Friday. The quarterfinals of the most important tournament of the year organized by the Argentine Tennis Association They left a balance that guaranteed an albiceleste player in the culminating match next Sunday. The thing is Román Burruchaga, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo and Camilo Ugo Carabelli They won their duels and already have their place in the semis.
The bad weather was in the past and the sun beat down during a day that had a temperature that It exceeded 30 degrees after noonwhen the activity began in the Center Court of the property with the cross between Camilo and the Brazilian Pedro Sakamoto. The Carioca reached the top eight after having eliminated two Argentines: Juan Ignacio Lóndero and Federico Gómez.
The Buenos Aires native started with some doubts, because he found the court a little faster than the previous days in which he had played later. The heat makes the ball go faster and Cami felt that change. At the close of the first set he achieved a key break and from there he headed towards a clear victory in a row, for 7-5 y 6-1. “I went from highest to lowest and ended up playing at an important level”, he acknowledged after the meeting.
Juan Manuel Cerúndolo will be his rival in the semis, after having beaten the Brazilian too Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida. The São Paulo player was the executioner of three Argentines throughout the week: in the classification he left Juan Manuel La Serna already Alex Barrenawhile in the round of 32 and in the second round he had eliminated Francisco Comesaña -second seed- and Luciano Ambrogirespectively.
The youngest of the Cerúndolo brothers, who began the week in position 152 in the ATP ranking and is the seventh seed, was left with a match with a development similar to that of Carabelli. In the first partial He had to fight until he won the tie break 9 to 7 and in the second he managed to display his best tennis to close the match with a resounding 6-2. Cami y Juanma They will be responsible for opening the activity on Saturday, when at 11 in the morning they go out to the main court to define the first finalist of the challenger.
Almost parallel to the match between the Argentine and the Brazilian, on Court 2 of the venue, the only match without Argentines between the protagonists was played. The Bolivian Hugo Dellien and the Dutch Jesper de Jong They battled for two hours and 42 minutes to define the third ticket to the penultimate station of the tournament. The European ended up winning after falling in the first set, 5-7, 6-3 and 6-4.
Your opponent will be Romanian Burruchagathe young man who was the architect of the crash of the day by leaving the first seed and runner-up on the road last Sunday in Buenos Aires, Federico Coria. After a set in which he won with authority, the fatigue and firmness of his rival did not allow the favorite to advance. The world champion in Mexico 1986 and father of the young tennis player witnessed his son’s triumph, and was received with a standing ovation by the audience.
He Mojarra He fought until the end, but the accumulated competition weighed at the time of the definition in a duel that concluded 3-6, 6-3 y 6-1. This way, Butter and De Jong will be the contenders for the last ticket to the grand final on Saturday on Sunday in the second shift on the center court.