STARNBERG, December 5, 2020
Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves remains the man to beat on the ATP Challenger Tour. The in-form Brazilian, champion of last week’s Sao Paulo Open Tennis, advanced to another semi-final on home soil at the Campeonato Internacional de Tenis in Campinas. Meligeni defeated Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 7-5, 6-1 on Friday afternoon at the Sociedade Hípica de Campinas.
The 22-year-old converted four of his eight break point chances and won 58 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 19 minutes.
“It is a special day, my mother’s birthday. I’m really happy, I managed to give her this gift today and I hope to give her the championship as a gift too,” Meligeni said. “It was a tough match today. I felt a bit tired in the first set, struggling with heavy legs. However, I managed to improve throughout the match. My level improved in the second set when I played with a lot more of pace and energy.”
Meligeni will next take on Francisco Cerundolo, who emerged victorious from the all-Argentine affair with No. 3 seed Facundo Bagnis, winning 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 36 minutes.
Later in the day, Meligeni was back on court reaching the doubles final alongside his partner Luis David Martinez of Venezuela. The top seed, who clinched the doubles title in Sao Paulo last Saturday, defeated US-Americans Martin Redlicki and Hunter Reese in straight sets to face Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France in the championship match.
In other singles action, top seed Roberto Carballes Baena fought past No. 5 seed Mohamed Safwat of Egypt 6-4, 1-6, 6-0. The World No. 102 from Spain broke his opponent’s serve four times to seal victory in just under two hours of play. Up next for Carballes Baena will be Daniel Elahi Galan, who captured his second Challenger career title at Lima in Peru last week. The 24-year-old from Colombia edged past No. 8 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3. The encounter lasted one hour and 24 minutes.
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