Camilo Ugo Carabelli outlasted American qualifier Emilio Nava 7-6(12-10), 6-3, 6-3 at Roland Garros on Monday, surviving a marathon opening tiebreak to advance to the second round of the French Open and become one of three Argentines to win on a strong Day 2 for Latin American tennis.
The 26-year-old porteño left-hander, ranked just inside the top 60 and competing in only his second main-draw appearance in Paris, needed 22 points to settle the first set against the powerful American before pulling away in straight sets. The win sets up a winnable second-round match and continues a clay-court season that has steadily pushed Ugo Carabelli into the upper tier of South American men’s tennis.
He was joined in the second round by Francisco Cerúndolo and Mariano Navone, the latest sign that Argentina is making the most of a wide-open draw left in the wake of two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal with a wrist injury.
Cerúndolo, seeded 25th and the region’s most realistic threat for a deep run, edged Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(7-9), 6-4 in a match that stretched past three and a half hours. The Buenos Aires native, a two-time fourth-round performer at Roland Garros, controlled the first two sets before letting a tight third-set tiebreak slip away. He regrouped in the fourth to close out the match on Court Simonne-Mathieu.
Navone, ranked 74th and once a top-30 player, dispatched American Jenson Brooksby in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, in a businesslike performance that took just over two hours.
The day’s most courageous Latin American performance came from a player who didn’t survive. Peru’s Ignacio Buse, the 22-year-old qualifier who arrived in Paris fresh off his maiden ATP Tour title in Hamburg — where he beat Flavio Cobolli, Jakub Mensík and Tommy Paul as a qualifier — pushed 11th seed Andrey Rublev to a fourth set before falling 6-3, 6-7(6-8), 6-3, 7-5.
Buse served for the fourth set at 5-4 before the Russian broke back and closed out the match. His campaign in Paris ends in defeat, but the form he has shown on European clay this spring has firmly established him as the next breakthrough name in Peruvian tennis.
Monday’s wins build on a strong opening Sunday for the region, which saw Brazil’s João Fonseca (the 28th seed and first Brazilian man seeded at Roland Garros in 15 years) advance, along with Argentina’s Solana Sierra, who stunned former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu 6-0, 7-6(4) on Court 13. Argentines Thiago Tirante and Marco Trungelliti also won on Sunday, meaning the country has now placed at least six players into the second round of the men’s draw — a figure not seen in years.
Not every story was a happy one. The 23rd seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry, Argentina’s top-ranked man and a 2023 Roland Garros quarterfinalist, fell to Portugal’s Nuno Borges in straight sets on Sunday, exiting a tournament where many expected him to make the second week. Bolivia’s Hugo Dellien also went out in the opening round to Frenchman Valentin Royer.
The attention now turns to Tuesday, when Chile’s Cristian Garín faces in-form American 18th seed Learner Tien, the recent Geneva Open champion. Argentina’s Facundo Díaz Acosta also plays Tuesday, as does Paraguay’s Daniel Adolfo Vallejo, who drew British 20th seed Cameron Norrie in a winnable first-round assignment for the qualifier.
The tournament continues at Stade Roland Garros through June 7, with the women’s singles final scheduled for Saturday, June 6, and the men’s final the following day. ESPN and Disney+ are carrying the full tournament throughout Latin America.
