Activity begins with a smile for the Argentines at Indian Wells
Horacio Zeballos achieved a marathon victory in his debut at the Indian Wells tennis tournament, defeating Japanese Yuichi Sugita in almost three hours.
Federico Delbonis, Guido Pella, and Nicolás Kicker will also play in the first round. Leonardo Mayer will play tomorrow, and Juan Martín Del Potro and Diego Schwartzman will play in the second round on the weekend.
Zeballos, ranked 66th in the world, secured his spot in the second round with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory in two hours and 48 minutes on the Californian hard court.
The Argentine had a 5-3 advantage in the decisive set but failed to capitalize on a match point in that game. He then suffered a break on his serve, which took the match to a tiebreak. Despite the comeback, the Japanese, ranked 40th in the world, couldn't close out the match and Zeballos celebrated a hard-fought victory.
In the next round, the South American tennis player will face Spanish Pablo Carreño, the 11th seed of the tournament.
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Delbonis will play against American Ryan Harrison (54th) tonight at 9 pm. If he wins, in the next round he will face Swiss Roger Federer (1st).
Pella will face Spanish Fernando Verdasco (39th) tonight at 7 pm. If he wins, he will play against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (4th).
Guido Pella, who had a good start to the year, will play against Verdasco, whom he defeated in Buenos Aires. (EFE)
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Nicolás Kicker will try to advance against Jiri Vesely. (EFE)
Mayer will debut tomorrow against Dominican Víctor Estrella (153rd), whom he lost to in the 2009 Challenger de Bogotá. If he wins, he will play against Japanese Kei Nishikori (25th).
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As for Del Potro, the top-ranked Argentine and South American player, he will debut directly in the second round, playing against German Jan-Lennard Struff (56th) or Australian Alex De Minaur (141st) on Saturday or Sunday.
Juan Martín del Potro and Diego Schwartzman celebrate ranking ascent
Schwartzman, the 17th ranked player, will also be exempt from playing in the first round and will debut against Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka (255th) or a player from the qualifying round.
Maria Sharapova's gesture of frustration as she was eliminated in the first round of Indian Wells. (AFP)