With eight South Americans in the quarterfinals, the Conception Challenger, in Chile, will have plenty of players from the region in the semifinals on Saturday. The Bolivian Hugo Dellien, maximum favorite, the Colombian Daniel Galá, the local Gonzalo Lama and the Argentine Santiago Rodríguez Taverna advanced again in that clay-court event and hands out $53,120 in prize money.
World No. 114 Dellien, who requested a wild card to enter the draw, came back on top without a hitch and is one of two semifinalists in Concepción not to drop a set in their three wins of the week. The Bolivian beat Brazilian Pedro Sakamoto (364th) 6-2, 6-4 this Friday.
Dellien’s rival in the semifinal will be Galán, the leader of Colombian tennis and No. 121 in the ATP ranking, who appears as the third seed. He defeated Argentinean Camilo Ugo Carabelli (215th), 6-1 and 6-2, seeded seventh, and there is promise of a great clash on Chilean soil.
In the lower half of the key, Rodríguez Taverna (264th) prevailed in a cross between Argentines against the eldest of the Cerúndolo brothers, Francisco (127th), fourth favorite of the tournament, 6-3 and 7-6 (1) , and the eighth candidate, who has not yet lost sets, will look for a key step in his career.
The Argentine’s opponent will be the Chilean Lama (301st), the only one who climbed to the semifinals without being seeded. The homeowner beat Argentine Facundo Mena (209th), sixth favorite, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 at the end of the quarterfinals.
Therefore, there is promise of two attractive duels in the penultimate round in Concepción.
