SAO PAULO, November 28, 2015
Top seed Paolo Lorenzi has been eliminated at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals. The world number 68 from Italy lost his second round robin match in Group A against Daniel Munoz de la Nava 6-4, 3-6, 2-6. The 33-year-old Spaniard withstood 10 aces and won 73% of his own first service points to secure his spot in the semi-finals after two hours and 16 minutes.
Munoz de la Nava will be joined by fellow Spaniard Inigo Cervantes, who defeated Farrukh Dustov 6-3, 6-3. Cervantes didn’t face a break point and converted three of his own to seal victory in one hour in 18 minutes. He remains the 2015 match wins leader with a 48-20 win-loss mark. During Friday’s match, Cervantes faced some pain in his right arm. “It’s the end of the biceps. It hurts. I am happy with the win today but tomorrow is a very important match and I hope to recover quickly,” the world number 98 explained.
Inigo Cervantes (photo: Marcello Zambrana)
Cervantes will face Guilherme Clezar in the semi-finals on Saturday. The Brazilian wild card cruised past Radu Albot, winning 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 11 minutes. Clezar lost to Cervantes in straight sets last week in Montevideo.
“The situation is different from Montevideo. It was raining there, the serves weren’t going that fast. [Cervantes] is someone that counter-attacks really well. I hope the serve can make a difference and my balls can go faster. The conditions here suit me more,” Clezar told and wants to reach the final in Sao Paulo here again.
“I have great memories from last year,” said Clezar, who finished runner-up in 2014. “The crowd gave me a lot of support today and that is always a great motivation for a player, to be able to feel everyone behind you. I’ve playing Challengers the whole year, I didn’t lose many matches to players with a lower ranking than mine. My level as a Top 200 player is established. I just need to win more matches.”
Guilherme Clezar (photo: Marcello Zambrana)
Fourth semi-finalist is Guido Pella but his Sao Paulo campaign has come to an abrupt end. The 25-year-old Argentine had already guaranteed his spot in the final four before he met with Marcho Cecchinato in the nightcap at the Pinheiros Sports Club. Leading 6-1, 1-0 Pella was forced to retire with a torn right adductor. Pella, who was scheduled to face Munoz-de la Nava on Saturday, concedes the walkover to the Spaniard, who advances to the title match.
