We are blessed with two more weeks of Challenger tennis and the tour is currently under way in South America with events held in Lima, Peru and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Thiago Monteiro and Thiago Seyboth Wild are the #1 and #2 seeds at home in Brazil, but today I want to preview a match from Lima where Federico Coria and Roberto Carballes Baena are the two top seeds.
Yay, South American Clay
Another seeded player is the Portuguese Pedro Sousa and he will face Thiago Agustin Tirante in his first round match today. Both already competed on clay in Guayaquil, Ecuador last week, so surface change or travel won't have too much impact here. Tirante had to make his way through qualifying in Guayaquil where he beat Velotti and Alvarez both in long three setters before losing to Barrios Vera in the main draw. Sousa actually reached the quarterfinal stage where he lost to Carballes Baena. Before that, he also won tight three setters against Etcheverry and Kopriva.
Thiago Agustin Tirante is a player on everyone's watchlist since he finished his juniors career on a high last year. He won three consecutive junior events, including the Eddie Herr International Junior Championship, which propelled him to #1 in the 2019 year-end junior rankings. The 19-year-old is your typical Argentinian clay courter. He tries to dominate the baseline and grinds out rallies with his powerful forehand and solid two-handed backhand. The serve is something Tirante still has to improve as he only puts it in with kick most of the time, but he doesn't shy away from finishing points at the net when the opportunity presents.
Up for the grind?
Matches like these mean a huge opportunity for youngsters like Tirante, who's surely up for the grind. As mentioned in the introduction, there will be one more week of Challenger tennis after this one and besides another tournament in Brazil, there will also be an event in Maia, Portugal. Pedro Sousa is on the entry list there and I could imagine he wants to finish his 2020 season at home. Even though I don't want to put too much thought into his motivation this week, this is just another aspect that makes this a play for me.
Unfortunately the odds crashed earlier (blame it on me as I'm just not able to write quickly enough), but I still think there is value on the Argentinian youngster. I will split a unit on him to win at +205 and the match to go over 2.5 sets at +155 odds.
