Juan Pablo Varillas, champion in Brazil: he won the Sao Leopoldo Challenger.

Peruvian sports added a new joy this Sunday. Juan Pablo Varillas (ATP: 119) closed his participation in the Sao Leopoldo Challenger in Brazil in the best way possible, as he managed to defeat Argentine Facundo Bagnis (ATP: 103) in the grand final with scores of 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, and 6-4, proclaiming himself champion after three hours and 12 minutes of play.

The performance of our top national racket throughout the tournament had been brilliant since the previous rounds, in which he defeated Eduardo Ribeiro (2-1), Gonzalo Lama (2-0), Daniel Dutra Da Silva (2-1), and Thiago Seyboth Wild (2-0). However, despite the results, 'Juanpi' was not the favorite to win the title.

Facundo Bagnis, who had extra pressure, tried to impose conditions from the first set, but the strengths were very close and the match reached the tie-break. In the crucial stage, Varillas managed to overcome the two service losses he had and broke his opponent three times, obtaining a 7-5 victory in his favor.

In the second set, the Argentine was more efficient and achieved a comfortable advantage, breaking Juan Pablo's serve once to seal a 4-6 victory. Due to the parity, the third set was going to determine the champion in Sao Leopoldo.

During the final set, Bagnis was two points behind in the score and managed to save match point twice, but he couldn't contain 'Juanpi' anymore. With great intelligence and precision, the Peruvian tennis player did not allow his opponent to equalize the score: he suffered a break in his service, responded in the same way, and achieved a 6-4 victory in his favor.

In this way, Juan Pablo Varillas once again wins an ATP Challenger title after more than a year, having last won in Santiago II (October 2021). The crown in Sao Leopoldo is the fifth in the category for the outstanding national athlete: he previously won in Campinas (Brazil, 2019), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic, 2019), and Biella (Italy, 2021).