Winning two ATP World Tour titles in two weeks is generally a feat reserved for Top Ten players or those athletes with incredible physical stamina and consistent gameplay. The grueling nature of tennis, requiring players to play consecutive matches nearly every day with little to no rest between tournaments, often beats players down, emotionally and physically. Often this results in phenomenal performances one week followed by sub-par results the next, sabotaging players’ chances in multi-tournament play.
Before July 7, Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas was just another lowly ranked, aging tennis player with no ATP World Tour singles titles to his name, a struggling journeyman not unlike many other lesser ranked competitors on the Tour. At the age of 28, the Argentine-born player had never made it beyond the second round of any Grand Slam singles tournament, and apart from a number of doubles titles, including an unexpected French Open doubles victory in 2008, he had not made much of an impact in the greater tennis world.
The July conquest
Then, seeded into the Swedish Open in Båstad with a Protected Ranking on July 7, Cuevas began working some singles magic never before glimpsed in his career. In the space of one short week, he dispatched sixth-seed Jérémy Chardy in the first round, third-seed Fernando Verdasco in the semi-finals, and fifth-seed João Sousa in the finals, securing his first ATP World Tour 250 title. The Uruguayan only dropped one set in his run to the top, to Swedish wild card Christian Lindell in the second round, defeating highly-ranked contenders with ease.
Three for Ten Sports 