Juan Pablo Varillas debuted in a Slam main draw at last year’s Roland Garros, going up two sets to love on Felix Auger-Aliassime, but failing to take the match. Eight months later in Melbourne, he made it into the event as a lucky loser and was two sets to one up against Alexander Zverev, but didn’t manage to clinch that win either (as a hardcore clay specialist, he is yet to defeat a top 200 opponent on hard courts). In a way, his run in Paris right now is his way of putting these two losses behind him.
First big result on the main tour, a slump just before Roland Garros
This year, Varillas made a semifinal at the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires, taking out players like Lorenzo Musetti or Dominic Thiem in straight sets. For a player who had been on the verge of breaking the top 100 for a few years before finally securing it in 2022, it seemed like the Peruvian was finally ready to have lots of tour-level impact now. But that Buenos Aires run wasn’t really followed up and he wouldn’t achieve anything spectacular until Paris.
At the end of March, he made a Challenger 125 final in Sanremo, but was mostly pushing through despite not being at his best all week and got thrashed by Luca van Assche in the championship match. In the six events he played between that tournament and Paris, he only managed two wins and retired in his last appearance before Roland Garros. Nothing seemed to be suggesting that a big run at the French Open was possible.
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Three consecutive five-setters
In the opening round, Varillas was two sets to love down to Juncheng Shang and ended up pulling off the comeback. The Chinese had recently suffered from mononucleosis which definitely contributed to his exhaustion, but it couldn’t be denied that his opponent shifted up a gear. The same thing happened in the next match with Roberto Bautista Agut also opening up a big lead on Varillas and being unable to drive it home.
On Friday, the Peruvian had a chance to become just the 2nd player in the Open Era to win three consecutive matches from two sets to love down (Tommy Robredo, 2013 French Open). That didn’t happen though as while he was briefly down a set and a break, he actually managed to level the match at one set all. It was a straight-up attrition war with his opponent, Hubert Hurkacz, also coming off two consecutive five-set victories.
It eventually went five again, which means that all five matches Varillas has ever played at Slams have gone to a deciding set. In the night conditions, the Pole’s serve was really neutralized and it allowed the ground game advantage to shine through. Varillas’s ball-striking was superb throughout as he produced a flurry of forehand winners to find the way to prevail. Both players were struggling physically but by the time they reached the decider, the Peruvian was definitely the one holding up better.
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It’s not getting any easier
The fourth round will see Varillas have to take on the 22-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic. Needless to say it’s a tough hill to climb, especially with 11 hours and 5 minutes already spent on the court in Paris. It will be the third time that Varillas takes on a top 10 opponent, having lost to the aforementioned Auger-Aliassime at the French Open last year and gotten demolished by Andrey Rublev in Banja Luka less than two months ago.
Taking Djokovic to another deciding set would be a monumental achievement for the Peruvian, although that’s mostly due to the accumulated fatigue. Purely in terms of ball-striking, Varillas has what it takes to push the very best on clay. His game is hardly steady though and the tactical awareness can be very spotty. Now it’s mostly about recovery for him and whether he has any fire left. If he can play as if he had nothing to lose, he might just keep it interesting on Sunday.
