While the Miami Masters 1000 is being played, the Challenger circuit continues in South America. In Pereira, Colombia, Tomas Etcheverry (108th) stretched his great present after the title in Concepción and several South Americans made their debut in this event that is played on clay.
The platense, second seeded in the contest, beat him 6-4 and 7-5 against the local qualifier Juan Sebastián Gómez (612th) iHe got his sixth win in a row after winning his third Challenger to keep getting closer to the top 100 in the world. In the second round, his rival will be Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves (223rd).
This Tuesday, in the same section of Etcheverry’s painting, Nicolás Mejía (264th) gave Colombians great joy: prevailed over the American Stefan Kozlov (120th; fourth seed), of good ATP results, by a forceful and surprising 6-1, 6-1. In search of the quarterfinals, his next hurdle will be the Argentine Juan Pablo Ficovich (217th) or the German Eijmar Ejupovic (450th, coming from qualy).
On the other hand, Argentine Nicolás Kicker (203 °) defeated the canadian Steven Ten (289th) 6-3, 7-6 (4) and in the round of 16 they will collide with the Colombian Nicholas Barrientos (461°), executioner of the Swiss Alexander Ritschard (231°) with partials of 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
In his last professional tournament, the Colombian Alexander Gonzalez (451st), 33-year-old former Top 100, beat Ukrainian Oleg Prihodko (502º) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 and will have a difficult time in the second round: the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas (119th), recent finalist in Santa Cruz, swept the Argentine Genaro Olivieri (277°) 6-0, 6-2 and appears in the local box.
