It may be the beginning of the end of Benoit Paire’s crossing of the desert, who must have appreciated the mega fireworks at the conclusion of the Mexican Challenger tournament in Puerto Vallarta which he had just won, nearly four years after his title in Lyon (ATP 250). In any case, he took plenty of souvenir photos. After eliminating Nicolas Mejia (246th) (against whom he had saved a match point), Daniel Rincon (319th), Aziz Dougaz (269th) and Illya Marchenko (386th), the Frenchman beat the Japanese Yuta Shimizu (309th) in final.
He may not have beaten the highest placed in the world hierarchy, but everything is good to take in the comebacks. After their quarter-final at the Nouméa Challenger earlier this year, Paire had only three small victories to savor. Leaving for the Americas after qualifying for Montpellier, a little to celebrate in Miami, he had competed unsuccessfully in the Challenger of Monterrey (Mexico), then that of Waco (United States), before returning to Mexico.
And therefore celebrate a title after a badly fitted final against the smallest player on the circuit with his 1m63 (five double faults and big blunders in the first set), then much better negotiated once he has been able to tighten up the game a little and shoot some nice ends (3-6, 6-0, 6-2). 209th at the start of the week, he is now ranked 168th in the world.
