#copa internacional de tenis presented by santander

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Curitiba Ch F: Jaime Faria [5] def. Felipe Meligeni R. Alves [8] 6-4, 6-4 Match Stats

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Everything turned out to come down to the last game (which was the tenth game of both sets), where J. Faria's aggression went after Felipe's shots. By putting more weighs on his shots, the Portuguese fifth seed outhit the Brazilian eighth seed, whose extra shot errors only benefited the former through his aggression. As a result, J. Faria created 5 break points, converting 40% of them compared to Felipe's non-conversion of his 3 break points, most of which came from the second set.

Service game-wise, J. Faria still stood out as he scores 8 aces than Felipe's 1, winning 85% of his first serve points compared to Felipe's 74%, which helped him navigating some troubles along the way. Impressively, despite the Portuguese fifth seed double-faulting five times, he still had the slight edge as he won 59% of his second serve points, 3% more than Felipe as the match progressed.

Winning his second Challenger title since Oeiras 3 (125) a couple months back, J. Faria knocked on the Top 100 door by the end of this tournament as he rose to 120 live, rising around 280 positions since he started this season in the 400s ranking range. While J. Faria did not enter any tournaments yet in the next few weeks, Felipe will continue his journey in Lima 2 Challenger. What a possibility this could bring as well.

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📸 🎥 ATP official website

Felipe tried to raise his game in the second set, but it was insufficient to counter J. Faria's aggression. To start, after holding his serves to 1-0, he fired a rare working volley to generate one of his earliest break points, but the Portuguese fifth seed saved both of them and held his serves to 1-1. He tried to press Felipe further throughout the set until his moment came again in the tenth game, kicking it off with a forehand winner 2 points in.

Several moments later, Felipe's previous error led him to concede a point before his forehand error created J. Faria's initial match point. Even though it was saved with an unreturned serve, another one converted it for J. Faria to break for the second set 6-4, as well as securing his second Challenger title of the year (and his career).

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📸 ATP official website

The next Challenger final for the week was the Curitiba Challenger, which turned out to be a rematch of their Roland Garros/French Open third qualifying round clash between fifth seed Jaime Faria, who previously knocked out Gustavo Heide 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, and eighth seed Felipe Meligeni R. Alves, who also stunned sixth seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-4, 6-0 later that day. While this match could have been as fruitful as their last meeting, it all came down to who handled the scoreboard pressure better toward the end.

Right at the second game, J. Faria already put more pressure on Felipe with a backhand return ace setting up his break point even if the latter held his serves to 1-1. This was just the beginning despite the rest of the games became a partial servefest (but not really), but what happened in the tenth game might have confirmed the scoreboard pressure part.

Fast-forward to the end of the first set, J. Faria fired a successful drop shot to put himself a point ahead before somehow having a set point moments after foiling Felipe's game point by going after his forehand. The Brazilian eighth seed might have saved an earlier set point with his forehand pass, but another error secured J. Faria's other set point, which was immediately converted as Felipe misfired his forehand, thus the Portuguese fifth seed took the first set 6-4 thanks to appearing more offensive in these moments.

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Curitiba Ch R2: Juan Manuel Cerundolo [6] def. Tristan Boyer 6-4, 6-4 Match Stats

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T. Boyer had some fair chances, but his sole break point came from his down-the-line approach to start the second set, which was foiled on Juanma's serves thanks to his aggression. Complemented by his return depth, the Argentinean sixth seed might have taken more risks from the baseline, which paid off with his shot winners under pressure as he forced T. Boyer's errors in some other occasions. As a result, Juanma converted 50% of his 4 chances to break compared to T. Boyer's non-conversion of his only break chance in this match.

Juanma's consistent serving was also evident in percentage. Scoring 4 aces than T. Boyer's 3, the Argentinean sixth seed won 5% more first serve points with 77%, which helped him controlling the flow more effectively on par with his strokes. Somehow, even though both players double-faulted thrice, Juanma still won 18% more second serve points than T. Boyer with 71%, which did not help the American relieve more pressure on his serves, considering his frequent follow-up errors.

In the quarterfinals, Juanma will face Alvaro Guillen Meza, who previously knocked out wild card Jose Pereira 6-1, 6-1 in a completely dominant showing. Considering their past few meetings this year, this could be a fruitful clash that tests their offensives, but a balance of power could be crucial for either of them to stand out in this match. This might as well headline the matches for the day upon the conclusion of some classic second-round matches interrupted by rain!

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T. Boyer had his fair chances to start the second set, starting his second game with a working volley 3 points in before his down-the-line shot outhit Juanma's forehand to create his sole break point 2 points later. However, the latter secured a massive hold to 1-1, and he continued asserting more pressure to the former as he scored a forehand lob to equalize the point as the American led to 2-1* 15-30 by then, scoring another gigantic hold to 2-2.

Several games later, Juanma's forehand pass to T. Boyer's volley error paved the way before the latter's erratic service game, most of which consisted of his third-shot errors, caused the Argentinean sixth seed's break of serve to 4-3. Since then, Juanma had not looked back, perfectly sealing his opportunity to serve for the match with a smooth hold, taking the second set 6-4 to secure his spot in the quarterfinals.

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📸 ATP official website

After being moved to one of the side courts due to rain, the second-round singles match between sixth seed Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who knocked out Juan Pablo Varillas 6-3, 7-5 in a competitive first-round match, and last week's Campinas Challenger champion Tristan Boyer, who ousted wild card Wilson Leite 6-2, 6-3 thanks to his outstanding performance. As neat as this match appeared to be, everything came down to their final shot execution considering their attempts to stay aggressive since its start.

After 4 consecutive service game holds, Juanma's forehand pass to T. Boyer generated the former's one-point lead before his forehand passes outhit the latter's forehand, which created his break point. Eventually, the Argentinean sixth seed broke to 3-2, strengthening his position with a smooth service game hold to 4-2.

T. Boyer then had a chance to stay in the set in the ninth game, but it was started with Juanma's preceding forehand to the American's slice error before he held to 5-4. As a result, Juanma still had to serve for the first set, where a forehand down-the-line winner secured his set point after conceding 2 points, the Argentinean sixth seed still took the first set 6-4 to put himself in front position of this match.