Mariano Navone became champion of the Challenger de Lima by beating the Italian in the final this Sunday Marco Cecchinato with a score of 6-4 5-7 and 6-4. For the Argentine tennis player it meant his eighth consecration in this type of competition and the second of the season.
Located in 81st place in the world ranking, Navone made an unusual but smart decision: to return to competing on the Challenger circuit. The player born in July 9, Together with his team, he understood that it was time to return to that stage that saw him grow and in which he built a good part of the journey that took him to the Top 30 during the previous season.
2025 was not an easy year for the Buenos Aires native. With 65 games played, they have a record of 36 wins and 29 losses.. Among his most notable results are the key point he achieved against Norway in the Davis Cup Qualifiers, in Oslo; the title Challenger obtained in Braunschweig, Germany; and his passage to the third round of Roland Garros.
After a streak of early falls in the US Open and in tournaments Hangzhou, Tokio y Shanghai, the ship decided to make a change of course. Instead of continuing the European tour on fast indoor courts, He chose to return to the South American clay courts with the intention of recovering sensations and confidence.
This Sunday, Navone He took to the field in the final of the competition held in the Peruvian capital with the hope of adding a new title to his career. Until then, His journey had been impeccable: He hadn’t lost sets all week. On his way to the decisive match he surpassed the Argentine Genaro Olivieri (230°), into Spanish David Jorda Sanchis (445°), to his compatriot Alex Barrena (172nd) and in the semifinals the Ecuadorian Alvaro Guillén Meza (236°).
Waiting for him on the other side of the network was the experienced Sniped33 years old, former world number 16 and current 262°. The Italian, champion ATP en Budapest y Umag (2018) and in the Argentina Open (2019) –where he defeated Diego Schwartzman in the final-also accumulates eight Challenger titles, the last of them this year in Milan. His best performance in a Grand Slam fue at Roland Garros 2018, when he reached the semifinals.
The decisive match, played on the clay courts of the Club Los Incasstarted with a Navone concentrated and accurate: he took advantage of the first break opportunity and took advantage. However, in the fourth game Sniped recovered the break. The man from Buenos Aires did not despair, he maintained his tactical plan and He struck again in the seventh game to seal the first set 6-4.
In the second set, the Buenos Aires native imposed the pace from the beginning and went on to take a double break lead (4-1). But the one born in Palermotrue to his fighting style, was recovering ground point by point. In the sixth game recovered a break, saved a match point in the ninth and ended up breaking again in the tenth and twelfth games to equalize the score in one sleeve per side.
In the decisive set, the alarm went off for the Argentine when he was 0-2 down. However, the ship He didn’t lose his cool: he recovered the break in the next game, although he once again gave up his service and Sniped went ahead 3-2. No time for regrets, Navone He put pressure again and in the fifth game he got a new break that allowed him to equalize the score. From that moment on he took control of the party, broke again in the seventh game and led the way to victory until closing the duel 6-4, after two hours and 43 minutes of intense battle.
