{"id":20917,"date":"2019-10-14T15:07:30","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T19:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordontennis.com\/?p=20917"},"modified":"2019-10-14T15:07:30","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T19:07:30","slug":"challenger-tour-weekly-recap-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2019\/10\/14\/challenger-tour-weekly-recap-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenger Tour Weekly Recap: Juan Pablo Varillas’ Two Titles in a Row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week in Campinas, Juan Pablo Varillas<\/strong> became the first Peruvian in 12 years to capture an ATP Challenger Tour title. In a battle of Juan Pablos, he beat the Argentinian Juan Pablo Ficovich in three sets to become the fifth men from his country to win an event at that level after Pablo Arraya, Jose Luis Noriega, Ivan Miranda and Luis Horna. After this remarkable achievement, not many expected the Peruvian to top himself just a week later.<\/p>\n

Varillas played the Milex Open in Santo Domingo on the basis of his ranking before the Campinas title and was therefore unseeded, meaning he needed to play six matches to win the title. Coupled with the six matches he had won just the previous week, that promised to be quite a lot of tennis. After routine wins over Alejandro Gonzalez and Daniel Elahi Galan, Varillas had to face the top seed and world #76 Federico Delbonis. The Peruvian lost the first set, but was the better player in the next two, upsetting the Argentine 3-6 6-3 6-4 to claim his second Challenger title in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

Familiar foes<\/h3>\n

His Campinas campaign really kicked off with a great win over Facundo Bagnis and the 29-year-old Argentinian was once again his rival in Santo Domingo. Varillas proved his great form once again, taking down a higher-ranked opponent 6-3 6-3. He didn’t face a single breakpoint. His great serving performance transferred to his next match with the fourth seed Thiago Monteiro. The Brazilian was storming through the draw that week, including ending the career of Victor Estrella Burgos. Yet, he was no match for Varillas who managed to reach his second career Challenger final in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

Federico Coria was another rival who Varillas had to play twice in his amazing streak. The 27-year-old Argentinian has had a great year, including a maiden Challenger Title in Savannah. Their last week’s semifinal was very clean from Varillas, who topped his opponent 6-0, 6-4 in around an hour. The Peruvian had a great start to his 12th match in 14 days, dominating the rallies with his spinny forehand. Although looking slightly gassed in the second set, he managed to rebound well and take the match 6-3 2-6 6-2.<\/p>\n

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Unstoppable! Juan Pablo Varillas adds a second straight title, going back-to-back in Campinas and Santo Domingo.<\/p>\n

One week after becoming the first Peruvian \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddea champion in 11 years, the Lima native joins Luis Horna and Ivan Miranda as the only multiple winners. pic.twitter.com\/72si4FlWaT<\/a><\/p>\n

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n