SANTO DOMINGO, October 14, 2019
Juan Pablo Varillas continued his great run of form by winning the title of the Santo Domingo Open presented by Milex. Following his maiden triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour last week in Campinas, Brazil, the 24-year-old Peruvian secured his second straight title on Sunday at the Santo Domingo Tennis Club – La Bocha.
Varillas fought past No. 8 seeded Argentine Federico Coria 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the final and extended his win streak to 12 straight matches. The World No. 161 capitalized on three of his seven break point chances to prevail after exactly two hours of play. Varillas took away from the Dominican Republic $21,600 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points.
“This has been my biggest win so far,” Varillas said. “For the rest of the season I will continue trying to climb up the rankings, reaching the Top 100. A few months ago this seemed to be impossible but now I am pretty close to achieve this goal.”
Unstoppable! Juan Pablo Varillas adds a second straight title, going back-to-back in Campinas and Santo Domingo.
One week after becoming the first Peruvian 🇵🇪 champion in 11 years, the Lima native joins Luis Horna and Ivan Miranda as the only multiple winners. pic.twitter.com/72si4FlWaT
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 14, 2019
Estrella Bugos retires from professional tennis
On Tuesday, 39-year-old local hero Victor Estrella Burgos bid farewell to professional tennis in front of his home crowd. The greatest player in Dominican history competed in his final tournament, falling in the second round to Thiago Monteiro after beating Marcelo Arevalo.
I’m not crying, you’re crying. 😢
A standing ovation for Victor Estrella Burgos, as the 🇩🇴 bids farewell in front of the home faithful in Santo Domingo. Thanks for the memories, @Vitiestrella80. pic.twitter.com/GydYWSoKwe
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 9, 2019
“The truth is that it was a beautiful experience this week,” Estrella told ATPChallengerTour.com. “So many people were there and so many sent me messages. Just a lot of nice memories. It was really special, because I knew it was going to be my last matches. I enjoyed it a lot on the first day and then I lost to Monteiro, but it was something I will never forget. So much emotion. And a lot of people crying, but they were all very happy because they were there for me for my entire career.”
In 2014, Estrella became the first Dominican to reach the top 100 in the ATP rankings. One year later, he also became the first tennis player from his country to participate in all four Grand Slams, playing in the Australian Open. In February 2015, he won his first career ATP Tour title at the Ecuador Open in Quito, becoming the oldest first-time ATP Tour winner in the Open Era. He successfully defended his title in 2016 and 2017, but lost in the second round in 2018. He reached a career high at World No. 43.
Estrella has been a member of the Davis Cup team from the Dominican Republic since 1998, posting a record of 41–17 in singles and 21–22 in doubles.
