A
drop shot
that
Juan Pablo Varillas
did not respond to and the total relief of
Camilo Ugo Carabelli,
who under the watchful eye of a group of friends who encouraged him in the stands of court 2 of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis won 7-6 and 6-4 to the Peruvian (85th in the world) in two hours and eight minutes of play and surpassed his debut at the
ATP 250 in Buenos Aires for the second consecutive year.
The world number 2, defending champion and the great attraction of the tournament awaits him:
Carlos Alcaraz.
Minutes after this great victory, and after checking on his cell phone the result of his beloved San Lorenzo against Estudiantes de La Plata,
Ugo Carabelli
- from Buenos Aires, 21 years old - sat down at a press conference and showed the sweet taste of a victory very special:
"It was a very important match for me because it was here in Buenos Aires and because many friends and family came to see me. I was very nervous.
I wanted to win no matter what and I felt prepared to do so, although I knew that Juanpi was going to be a very tough rival."
The Argentine tennis player, who
has just become champion of the Piracicaba Challenger,
in Brazil, surpassed the
qualification
after collecting three match points against the Bolivian
Hugo Dellien
and is bidding to earn a place in the main draw of major tournaments more frequently.
This was only his third victory at the ATP level after beating the Russian Aslan Karatsev at Roland Garros 2022 and the Colombian Daniel Galán in Buenos Aires last year.
He dreams of returning to the Top 100, where he was in August 2022 when he reached the best ranking of his career (96th).
"I come with a good level and I think that playing with Alcaraz on Thursday is a reward for how I have been working, for how my team is leading me
, so I am very happy,"
analyzed the player who has been training with Carlos Berlocq
for eight months .
In 2023 Ugo Carabelli reached the second round in Buenos Aires and lost to Dusan Lajovic.
Photo: Fernando de la Orden / Clarín.
And he recognizes the influence of the
coach
to explain his good moment: "Charly gets along with me very well. Since we are so opposite, we make a good duo: he is intense and I am the opposite, more relaxed. He
made me see what it means to work seriously to being a tennis player, which is really putting everything aside and living for tennis. I didn't do it before."
He did not live for tennis, as he says, but tennis was always a part of his life.
He trained at San Lorenzo, a club of which he is a fanatical fan and for which he currently plays interclub, and
became a ball catcher for the Argentina Open.
"I remember that I did quilombo all day. I was in the club all day. I also remember that there was a cut-off of
ballboys
and I was always the first.
Martín (Jaite, the tournament director) took me out of the room all the time of players because I went to play.
It was like coming and laughing all day," he remembers with a mischievous smile.
I saw up close the great tennis players who were always part of the Buenos Aires ATP.
For example, he was 15 years old when
Rafael Nadal
won his only title in Buenos Aires after beating Pico Monaco in the final.
And now he will face Rafa's successor:
Carlos Alcaraz, the biggest challenge of his career.
It will be the first time that he faces a phenomenon of such magnitude, but it will not be the first time that he sees on the other side of the network one of those called to take over the command left by the "Big Three."
Alcaraz in Buenos Aires for his debut, which will be against Ugo Carabelli.
Photo: Argentina Open
In Melbourne Park, after losing in the last round of the
Australian Open
qualifying against the Dutchman Jesper De Jong, he stayed there for a few more days and
trained with Jannik Sinner,
who would end up lifting his first Grand Slam title there.
"I also trained with Medvedev and Tiafoe, but I was surprised by how hard Sinner hits the ball. It's incredible,"
he commented.
And he told a funny anecdote with the Italian.
"Sinner was playing in the second round with De Jong, the one who had beaten me in the last qualifying round
,
and he asked me how I played. That shows his humility. I answered him, but inside I thought I had no chance of losing."
, he recalled.
And so it was: Sinner swept De Jong with a crushing triple 6-2.
Ugo Carabelli will now have a test as difficult or more difficult than that one.
"I imagine what the stadium is going to be like, crazy, but there's a long way to go until Thursday. I'm trying to take it easy and I'm going to try not to start crying
," he concluded.