ATP Cordoba: Juan Ignacio Londero completes perfect week with trophy
The world no. 112 Juan Ignacio Londero needed a wild card to enter the main draw in Cordoba and he used the most of it, toppling Guido Pella3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in two hours and three minutes for the maiden ATP title. Juan Ignacio had no ATP wins before this week and he is the first ATP champion with the first ATP win and trophy at the same tournament since Steve Darcis in Amersfoort 2007. These two had played three times on the lower-ranked events between 2010-14 and Guido won them all, having a huge chance to repeat that tonight and claim he maiden ATP trophy, leading 6-3, 4-2 before Londero performed a miracle escape to cross the finish line first.
Competing in the first all-Argentine ATP final since Vina del Mar 2012 and the 26th overall in the Open era, Juan Ignacio suffered three breaks from six chances he offered to Pella, hitting a lot of winners but also errors to keep the points on own racquet and break rival's rhythm from the baseline. Guido couldn't match the rival's pace from serve and forehand, having to play against 12 break points and getting broken five times to fade away from the court after that tight second set. A left-hander broke in the second game of the match when Londero hit a forehand wide, saving a break point in the following game and dropping five points in total on serve to grab the opener 6-3 after a service winner in game nine.
Things didn't look well for Juan Ignacio in set number two either, netting an easy backhand to lose serve in game five before erasing the deficit with a break in game eight and a deep return that Pella failed to control. Londero had the upper hand in the rest of the set and he converted the sixth set point at 6-5 after a forced error from Guido, building a huge momentum before set number three and making the crucial step in the title chase. Juan Ignacio was the only player on the court in the decider, breaking Pella three times in a row to seal the deal in game seven and start a massive celebration with his family and team, achieving what seemed unthinkable just seven days ago.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2RQRDG4
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