The Conception Challenger, in Chile, has its finalists in singles: it is the Colombian Daniel Galá, third seeded, and Argentine Santiago Rodríguez Taverna, eighth seed in this tournament played on brick dust and gives away $53,120 in prizes.
Galán, the leader of Colombian tennis and No. 121 in the ATP ranking, prevailed in the first semifinal, in a tough and changing match, against Bolivian Hugo Dellien, No. 114 in the world, top favorite, who asked for a special invitation to enter in the box, with a score of 6-4, 2-6 and 7-6 (3).
Thus, Galán, 25, had the pleasure of reaching his first final in a Challenger in eight months. His previous definition of that level was lost in Heilbronn, in Germany, last May, also on clay courts.
For his part, in the lower half of the key, Rodríguez Taverna (264th), who had just eliminated his Argentine compatriot Francisco Cerúndolo (127th), fourth favorite, now defeated the Chilean Gonzalo Lama (301st), the only who climbed to the semifinals without being seeded, 6-3 and 6-4, after having many match points in the game prior to closing.
Rodríguez Taverna, 22, achieved his second consecutive final in a Challenger, since earlier this month he was crowned champion in Buenos Aires, also on clay. In that tournament, the Argentine also beat the Chilean in the semi, in that case 6-1 and 6-3.
In doubles, the Ecuadorian Diego Hidalgo and the Colombian Cristian Rodríguez, fourth seeds, defeated the Argentines Francisco Cerúndolo and Camio Ugo Carabelli 6-2 and 6-0 in the final. The champions took the Concepción title with four wins achieved in straight sets.
