The northerner needed more than three hours of play and seven match points to reach the second round of the tournament.
Christian Garin (104th) is off to a good start at the Girona Challenger, the first event he will compete on the European circuit on clay. Of course, the road was far from easy. He beat the Portuguese Henrique Rocha (220°) 4-6 6-3 and 7-6(9).
The victory is magnificent for the Chilean, who had experienced bad feelings during the season, to the point that this week he left the Top 100 of the world rankings. The departure was mainly due to the few points he was able to add during the South American tour and his decision to leave Indian Wells, where he defended 106 points.
To make matters worse, it is very likely that he will continue to lose positions, because for failing to defend what he achieved in Miami he will lose 61 more points. In Girona, he will try to catch up, but the road will be long. He just added nine points for making it past the first round.
In any case, the victory stands out for the proximity of the result, to the point that the match was decided in a tie-break which ended 11-9 in favor of the Chilean in three hours and 22 minutes of play. saved three match points against and could only make a fist after seven match points in favor.
In the round of 16, he will face Nicolás Moreno de Alborán (158th), whom he faced a few weeks ago at the Phoenix Challenger, where the Chilean won by a double 6-4. This is the only time the North American faces the 26-year-old American.
In Spain, Garin must start to change his feelings, mainly because he defends 180 points until after Roland Garros, although in his favor he plays that since he did not participate in Paris last year he will be able to just add to it.
Of course, there is still a long time left for the second Grand Slam of the year and the Chilean risks finding himself outside of the direct qualifying positions. Without going any further, At the 2024 Australian Open, Tomás Barrios had to play the qualifications being 103rd in the world since he was six places below the cut.
Concretely, for the clay court circuit, he defends units in the ATP 250 in Houston (45 points) and in Munich (45), in addition to the Masters 1000 in Rome (45) and Madrid (45). For the latter two, their presence in the main draw is almost ruled out.
Another problem that appears in their programming is that these two months will be decisive for their aspirations to access the Paris Olympic Games, which define their qualifications just after Roland Garros. The best 56 will be entered by ranking, respecting the maximum quota of four per country.
Follow in El Deportivo:
Source: Latercera

I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.