Pella Overcomes Missed Flight, Albot To Open Bid In Sao Paulo

Guido Pella is making a habit of cutting it close this week.

The 25-year-old Argentine, who won his fourth Challenger title of the year on Sunday in Montevideo, Uruguay, missed his Tuesday flight to Sao Paulo for the ATP Challenger Tour Finals.

Pella traveled home to Buenos Aires after the final, but encountered an unexpected delay in flying to Sao Paulo two days later. He would arrive in the Brazilian metropolis the night before the competition was set to commence on Wednesday. The World No. 76 opened his bid for a second title at the Challenger season finale with a clash against sixth seed Radu Albot, and once again things didn’t go according to plan. The Moldavan raced out to a 5-0 first set lead and eventually seized the opener 6-3, before Pella roared back for a 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win after one hour and 50 minutes.

“I arrived here yesterday at 6:30PM because I missed my flight,” Pella said. “I knew it would be hard because I didn’t have the chance to practise much on this court and I needed to play with a lot of heart. He had a good start and I wasn’t comfortable, but I got better afterwards.

“Playing the Challenger Finals is always amazing, luckily it’s my second time around and I managed to win the first match.”

Read: 10 Questions With Guido

Pella, who won the title in 2012, moved into a tie for second among match wins leaders this year with his 44th victory, drawing level with Marco Cecchinato and Daniel Munoz-de la Nava. He joins home hope and eighth seeded wild card Guilherme Clezar atop Group B following Day One at the Pinheiros Club.

Challenger Finals Viewers’ Guide

Clezar continued his dominant run of form at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, streaking past Cecchinato 7-5, 6-4. He won an impressive 81 per cent of first serve points and 73 per cent on his second serve, while converting two of three break points. The Brazilian has now won four of his last five matches at the tournament after finishing runner-up last year to Diego Schwartzman.

“I’ve been practising really well over the last two days, so I was really confident with my game,” Clezar said. “I believe it was a consequence of that. I had a good run last year, so I feel like it gives me confidence to repeat it this week. I hope I can bring that to the next round.”

Pella and Clezar will square off in Thursday’s nightcap, with Group B supremacy at stake. Pella leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-1, most recently winning this year at the Guayaquil Challenger. Cecchinato battles Albot in other action.

Cervantes, Lorenzi Move Atop Group A
Top seed Paolo Lorenzi will face off against Inigo Cervantes in a rematch of the Eskisehir (Turkey) final after both notched opening wins on Wednesday. Lorenzi, who has not dropped a set in three meetings with Cervantes, rallied past Farrukh Dustov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 after two hours and 23 minutes.

“It was an extremely tough match,” Lorenzi said. “I didn’t have a good start. He won the first set and had a break in the second. I played without pressure after that. I’m happy that I won, not with the way I played but the important thing is getting the win. It’s not easy to play after two weeks out of competition.”

Read: Lorenzi “The goal is to reach 400 wins”

Cervantes, meanwhile, also mounted a comeback in upsetting countryman and third seed Munoz-de la Nava 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5. The Spaniard broke into the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday, following a final run in Montevideo (l. to Pella). He extended his 2015 match wins lead with victory No. 46.

“In a tournament like this, in São Paulo, all eight players have the same level and all matches will be tough,” said Cervantes. “Dani is a Spanish player and it was the second time we faced each other this year. I won the other match but in three sets as well. It is always really tough. I’m glad that I could win the match even if I didn’t play my best tennis.”