GUAYAQUIL/STARNBERG, November 3, 2022
Local wild card entry Alvaro Guillen headlined Wednesday’s first-round action at the XVIII Challenger Ciudad de Guayaquil Copa Banco Guayaquil presentado por CNT by defeating his compatriot and World No. 641 Andres Andrade 6-4, 6-3.
At the start of the match, Andrade dominated the match and was 4-0 up on his own serve. It seemed that the end of the set was only a matter of time, but the 19-year-old Guayaquil native managed to break his serve in the fifth game and gained confidence to string together six games in a row and took the first set.
The second set continued in the same vein, with Guillen growing in confidence, while Andrade could not find a way to recover. The World No. 807 secured his first victory on the ATP Challenger Tour in one hour and 45 minutes.
#ChallengerdeGuayaquil Revive las emociones del duelo ecuatoriano entre Álvaro Guillén y Andrés Andrade disputado esta tarde. pic.twitter.com/d0Ao1u1v4y
— Challenger de Guayaquil (@challengye05) November 3, 2022
“I started off very nervous and I did a lot of mistakes. He started with nerves, but more solid and then I said ‘we have to keep going and going because at some point the match is going to change’ and it did. When I broke in the first set I changed my tactics, I concentrated more, I forgot about things and just focused on continuing,” said Guillen.
“It’s very complicated to play against someone you know, that’s why I started out nervous because it’s always difficult to play against a friend. I practice very hard and I know I have to keep training. It doesn’t mean anything this win, now I’ll see who I play against and tomorrow I’ll look for the same.”
Up next for the teenager will be No. 4 seed Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru, who defeated Brazilian qualifier Eduardo Ribeiro 6-2, 6-1 in 64 minutes.
In other action, top seed Federico Coria booked his place in the second round with a 6-2, 7-6(6) win over fellow Argentine Francisco Comesana in two hours and two minutes. Coria will next play his compatriot Facundo Diaz Acosta.
In the longest fight of the day, Argentine lucky loser Roman Andres Burruchaga knocked out his compatriot and No. 2 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-5 after three hours and 35 minutes. The 20-year-old from Buenos Aires will next face Italian qualifier Marco Cecchinato, who eased past Jamaican qualifier Blaise Bicknell 6-1, 6-3 in just under one hour of play.
#ChallengerdeGuayaquil 🇦🇷Román Andrés Burruchaga ganó un maratónico partido que duró 3H36 frente a 🇦🇷Tomas Martín Etcheverry. El argentino irá contra 🇮🇹Marco Cecchinato en la próxima ronda. pic.twitter.com/a1r86yjtU0
— Challenger de Guayaquil (@challengye05) November 3, 2022
