Guido Pella, from Bahia, will face a hard test today in his second round match in Indian Wells, the first Masters 1000 of the ATP season, held in California (United States) and on a fast surface.
Guido, 739th in the world ranking, who is contesting the tournament thanks to his protected ranking, will take the field today, not before 7:00 p.m. (ESPN), to face the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor, 36th in the ranking, who advanced directly to the second round.
The most important litmus test for the tennis player from our city since his return to the professional circuit in November 2022, given the good momentum of his rival and who, as the statistics indicate, is the best-ranked rival he will have faced up to now.
However, Pella comes from achieving a valuable victory last Thursday, in his debut in the Californian contest, against the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, reversing a disadvantage and winning in three sets, which meant his second victory since his return.
The summary of the match against Monteiro:
Guido returned to reap success in a Masters 1000 after 17 months. Curiously, his last participation and his victory in a contest of these characteristics had been precisely in Indian Wells 2021.
In case of victory, Pella, who with what has been done so far will advance more than 200 places in the world rankings (he will be within 550), will be able to cross with the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (94) or the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (2), top seed for the title and champion of the tournament last year.
The other Argentines who will take the field today will be Francisco Cerúndolo, facing the American Jack Sock, and Sebastián Báez, facing the Australian Rinky Hijikata.
Fran, the best Argentine in the ATP world ranking since 32nd place, will debut not before 7:00 p.m. directly in the second round against local server Sock (154), winner in the initial round of Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (65).
Báez (35), for his part, champion this year at the Córdoba Open, will also debut in the second round not before 8:30 p.m. against Hijikata (130), who passed the classification and beat the Swedish Mikael Ymer in the initial round ( 57).
