05/15/2021 6:55 PM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 05/15/2021 6:55 PM
Argentine tennis player
Sebastián Báez
confirmed his great season and became
champion of the Zagreb Challenger
, on brick dust and with prizes for 44,820 euros, after beating Peruvian
Juan Pablo Varillas
3-6, 6-3 and 6-
in the final.
1 to lift
his third title of the year
in the category.
Báez, ranked
218 in
the ATP world rankings, surrendered from lowest to highest to prevail over Varillas (133 °) after two hours and five minutes of play, and lifted his third Challenger trophy.
He had won the previous ones in Chile, first in Concepción and then in Santiago.
The native of the Buenos Aires town of San Martín thus became
the youngest tennis player to win three titles on this circuit
since a compatriot of his, Guillermo Coria, did it in 2000. From this Monday, in addition,
Seba
will occupy
the position tallest
in his short career: he will be number
183 in
the world.
The 20-year-old kid rounded off a great week as he entered the main draw in Zagreb after overcoming two qualifying games and in total he scored seven victories: then he beat the Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan (215 °), the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (119 °) , to the Spanish Pedro Martínez (94 °), to the Chilean Marcelo Barrios (243 °) and finally to Varillas (133 °).
This terrific performance will allow Báez to
climb 35 places
and reach his next goal in high spirits, which is qualification to enter the main draw at Roland Garros next week.
Counting his forays into ATP tournaments this year (he played qualifying in both Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile, where he managed to get into the main draw), the young Argentine completes an excellent record of
22 wins and only 4 losses
on the season.
And if the sample is reduced to what has been done only in the Challengers, he presents an impressive resume of
16 hits and just 1 fall
, having won three of the four tournaments he played.
Coria, in that 2000, ended up winning four titles on the ATP circuit "younger brother": Lima, São Paulo, Montevideo and Buenos Aires, so it does not seem impossible for Báez to
repeat the feat.
From the following year,
Willy
got fully into the major circuit and already in 2001 he
won his first title
(Viña del Mar, against Gastón Gaudio) and played another final (Mallorca).
The Argentine tennis players this year conquered
five competitions
in the Challenger category, which is second in importance to the ATP: the three mentioned by Báez are joined by those of Pedro Cachín in Oeiras, Portugal, and Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in Rome.