Varillas, ranked 101st in the ATP world ranking, entered the tournament after going through the qualifying phase and eliminated the Italian Musetti (20) after one hour and 45 minutes of play, with a memorable performance.
The Peruvian born in Lima 27 years ago exhibited a very high level on the central court of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club, in the match that was an appetizer for the one that the top candidate to win the title, the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (2) will play later. against the Serbian Dusan Lajovic (90).
Varillas will play one of the Buenos Aires ATP semifinals tomorrow against British Cameron Norrie (12), second seed, who previously eliminated Argentine Tomás Martín Etcheverry (82) after beating him 5-7, 6-0, 6-3.
Rods’ record
The Peruvian achieved three achievements:
-Best ranking (81st)
-Best victory (against the 18th in the world)
-First time in semifinals on the ATP circuit
The Peruvian tennis player, who was installed for the first time in the top four of a tournament, had gone through the classification and left the Portuguese Joao Sousa (142) and the Austrian Dominic Thiem (99) on the way.
Against Musetti, the tennis player from LIma played as loosely as in his two previous matches and with the attitude of always looking for points, thus he went ahead 3-2 with a break on the Italian’s serve, and then stretched to 4 -2 to get the first major advantage.
#TennisInTyCSports? Huge victory for Juan Pablo Varillas ??! The one from Qualy won twice 6-4 against the third seed of the Lorenzo Musetti tournament ??
Did you enjoy it LIVE by @TyCSports and https://t.co/6eSENGb6G0 @gonbonadeo1963 @jotamrinaldi pic.twitter.com/fjjyvr8YLq— TyC Sports Play (@TyCSportsPlay) February 17, 2023
Varillas closed the set 6-4 and far from being satisfied with what had been done, he was constant to remain firm in his strategy of playing deep shots and again broke Musetti at the start of the second set.
With the advantage, Varillas gained confidence and despite the fact that Musetti, considered a future “top ten”, reacted and equalized the game (2-2), that did not last long.
The Peruvian broke the Italian’s serve again and took the lead 5-4, to then close the set 6-4 and celebrate at length, much applauded by the public who recognized his courage to risk all shots.
