Peruvian pride. The first Peruvian slugger beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti and qualified for the semifinals of the ATP 250 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
To cap off a great week and against all odds, our first national racket, Juan Pablo Varillas, beat Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti to advance to the semi-finals at the ATP 250 Argentina Open Buenos Aires.
After beating Dominic Thiem, former world number three, our compatriot had a tough challenge against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (20th), whom he defeated 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 32 minutes.
Today he meets the Brits in the fight for his first final at this level Cameron Norrie (12th), second seed who defeated local hero Tomas Martín Etcheverry (82nd) 5-7, 6-0 and 6-3 in two hours and 33 minutes.
With this new move taken today, ‘Juanpi’ will have his best professional ranking the following week. According to ATP Live, he climbs to 81st place. He also made it into the main draw by reaching the semifinals Rio ATP 500 as special exemption.
“It’s very nice to have so many people supporting you. It’s nice to give a smile to the people of Peru who are going through a tense moment. Since last year I’ve started to believe that I can win games like this. I can do it with more experience,” he emphasized, referring to the possibility of representing Peru again in the Davis Cup. “Maybe the youngest Peruvians have me as a role model and it’s a nice responsibility. I like representing my country in Davis Cup, I do it with pride and passion,” he said.
At 27 and a pro since the 2012 season, Varillas made his ATP debut ATP 250 of Santiago de Chile 2020. From this competition until now, there are several victories that can be highlighted.
The other key to the semifinals is defined with the duels between the Spaniards Carlo Alcaraz (First seed and top title contender) vs. Lajovic. Then the Spaniards close the day Bernabe Zapata Miralles – eliminated Diego Schwartzman – against the local Francisco Cerundolothe country’s last hope in the draw.
It should be noted that this Argentine ATP, which had a local winner in 2021 with Schwartzman after 12 dry editions, has already seen how hosts Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Sebastián Báez, Guido Pella, Pedro Cachín, Federico Coria, Díaz Acosta and he himself said goodbye to Schwartzman before that day. After the defeats of Peque and Thiem, there will be a rookie champion at the Argentina Open.