Challenger Tour: Francisco Comesaña became champion at the Argentine Tennis Club and rounded off two unforgettable weeks

With another formidable performance, Francisco Comesana closed two dream weeks. The man from Mar del Plata conquered on Sunday the Buenos Aires Challenger by beating him in the decisive match Mariano Navone 6-4 and 6-0 at the Argentine Tennis Club, and celebrated his second consecutive conquest in this category of the men’s tennis tour, since last week he had also lifted the champion trophy at the Corrientes Challenger.

Comesaña, 21 years old and ranked 239th in the ATP world ranking, beat the player who emerged on July 9 after 1 hour and 14 minutes of play, after an even first set, and with the player from Mar del Plata as a broad dominator in the second set. Thus, the outcome of what happened in Corrientes was also repeated, since in that city Comesaña had also beaten Navone in straight sets.

“I’m not understanding anything, ha. Winning last week was a tremendous achievement for me and I got to this week with a lot of confidence, and game after game my performance improved”, said Comesaña, who will rise some 26 positions for this victory and will be close to 213 world ranking. The man from Mar del Plata, trained by Facundo Argüello, completed a climb of almost 200 steps, since he started the season as the 411th in the world.

“When the pandemic arrived, I spent many months without playing tennis and without knowing if I was going to play again, and it crossed your mind when we were going to compete. When the opportunity arose to return, she began working with Sebastián Gutiérrez’s team [el coach de Sebastián Báez]I saw the work he does with it and I was very surprised. I injured my wrist, I was unemployed for several months, I was in a lot of pain and I didn’t know if he was going to play again. There were no tournaments and confidence was very low,” Comesaña told ESPN about what it cost him to continue due to the months he was out of the tour during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I know that there is a long way to go, that there is a long way to go, but who tells you that next year we cannot dream of being in the top 100. Playing a Grand Slam qualifier is very important and reaching a main draw would be a dream″, added Comesaña, who will continue his tour at the Challenger in Cali, and possibly later in Bogotá, before preparing for the cement tour that will end at the US Open, with good chances of qualifying for the last Grand Slam of the season.

Navone was very satisfied with the two finals he reached in these two weeks: “I didn’t imagine all this. While we’ve made a lot of changes and worked hard since January, I never expected to be playing like this in June, making it to the Challengers or Futures finals.” The one from 9 de Julio, who trains at Alejandro Toto Cerúndolo’s academy, has just made an important technical change in the handle of the drive, and the results seem to have come in recent tournaments. He will be located this Monday near the 358th position in the ranking.

The one from Comesaña was the eleventh title of an Argentine this year in the tournaments of the Challenger category, the one that follows in importance to the ATP. To the two that the man from Mar del Plata obtained in Corrientes and in Buenos Aires, are added those conquered by Pedro Cachín (Madrid and Prague), Santiago Rodríguez Taverna (Tigre 1), Francisco Cerúndolo (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), Tomás Martín Etcheverry (Concepción , Chile), Facundo Bagnis (Pereira, Colombia), Camilo Ugo Carabelli (Tigre 2), Facundo Díaz Acosta (Coquimbo) and Federico Coria, who this Sunday won the title in Milan, just hours before his participation in Wimbledon.