Juan Pablo Varillas: How did it go against top ten tennis players and why could the match against Fritz be historic?

The specialists do not stop saying it: Juan Pablo Varillas has the tennis to fight against the tops. And he demonstrated it on Monday at the US Open by beating Kecmanovic, currently ranked 46 ATP. The national came from a losing streak against ranked players, but he once again showed his fighting blood to overcome the Serbian. Now he will have to continue growing, because tonight he has to face Taylor Fritz, currently ranked 9 in the world.

Starting at approximately 7:00 pm -in the second turn of the Louis Armstrong court-, the national disputes the second round of the Grand Slam with all the atmosphere against it, since Fritz will play in front of his people.

Juan Pablo has shown that he can compete on an equal footing when he is fit, as he did at Roland Garros, although this is played on clay.

For Juanpa, the challenge is not only to continue advancing in a major, but also to achieve his best victory, since until now he has not been able to beat a top ten tennis player in the three opportunities he has had: against Auger-Aliassime (9) at Roland Garros last year, against Rublev (6) at ATP Banja Luka and against Novak Djokovic (3) at Roland Garros.

The numbers are not so bad if we open the range a little more, since he has been able to beat top 20 tennis players three times in ten matches, two of them this year, against Musetti (20) in the ATP of Argentina and Hurkacz ( 14) at Roland Garros.

The national seeks to repeat the history he achieved in Paris, where he reached the round of 16. “Fritz is a big favourite. He is doing well on the North American tour, but Varillas has to fight ”, analyzes Manuel Cabezas, from Tenis Peruano.

If he wins tonight, it will be a historic game for him, since it would be his best victory by beating a top ten. In addition, they would mean 90 points for his ranking – he could reach the top 60 – and a prize of 191 dollars, not bad for him to plan the end of the year in the best way.

Meanwhile, the calendar that follows for the Peruvian is already known. He must play the Davis Cup in Lima and then he will travel to ATP Chengdu (China) and ATP Astana (Kazakhstan), both with direct qualification to the main draw, and waits for a place in the Shanghai Masters. The entire tour is on hard court.

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