Nicolas Jarry (160 °) is closing the season in the best way. Starting the year without ranking, today will end 2021 within the 150 best in the world. This Friday, at the Challenger in Sao Paulo, he gave a new sample of his progress and beat Bolivian Hugo Dellien (119 °), 7-6 (3) and 7-6 (5), in a duel that lasted two hours and six minutes.
The development of the match was complex and the rival had precisely defeated Nico the previous week in the first round of the Challenger in Brasilia, so a very close match was looming. However, the Chilean managed to make the most of his service to get out of all the difficulties posed by the Bolivian. Fourteen aces and 75% of points with his first serve helped him make up for his shortcomings with the return, because throughout the meeting he did not generate any possibility on the serve of his rival.
In both tie breaks, Juan Ozón’s pupil showed his hierarchy and thanks to very good shots he managed to carry out a match that seemed to be getting complicated for him. The variety of shots and more than one presence on the net added to this battery of alternatives that he has been incorporating into his game during this season.
With this victory, Jarry reached his seventh semifinal of the year and claims to be ranked 146th in the world, displacing Tomás Barrios at 147 °. If he wins the title on the clay of São Paulo, he will surpass Alejandro Tabilo and be the new number two in the country.
In any case, Chile once again has four tennis players in the top 150 after 14 years, when Fernando González (7th), Nicolás Massú (60th), Paul Capdeville (120th) and Adrián García (145th) occupied that group.
For the passage to the final, the Santiago tennis player will face the winner of the match they will hold the Argentine Juan Pablo Ficovich (285 °) and the Brazilian Gabriel Heide (532 °).
After the game, Jarry analyzed his victory, expressing his satisfaction with the results obtained. “I am very happy for today’s game, I think it was the best game of the year for me in everything that has to do with tennis; in terms of sensations; head; of the rival; what does it mean; that it is the last week of the year … ”, he expressed.
In any case, he acknowledged that as a level he was not at his best: “I can’t find that I played well; that I felt the ball. I felt that I played better, but within all the nerves and situations of the game, I handled them very well and that is why I am very happy with myself. There is a new semifinal and we will continue with the same focus as today, which is key; go point to point, as has been this week ”.
