Christian Garin’s bellow of jubilation echoed across the close confines of Roehampton’s grass courts. It was an unexpected spark to a man three courts away.
There Garin’s Chilean compatriot and good friend Nicolas Jarry was closing in on a breakthrough victory of his own. Mere seconds apart the two 21-year-olds booked their berths in the final round of Wimbledon Qualifying.
Garin took down American No.22 seed Bjorn Fratangelo 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4, while Jarry sprung an upset over No.16 seed Konstantin Kravchuk 7-5, 4-6, 11-9.
“Well I’m so happy because I never expected to be in the final round of Wimbledon (Qualifying) because it’s my first tournament on grass in my career,” Garin, a former junior French Open champion, said. “It’s amazing. I just want to keep going and keep enjoying this beautiful tournament.”
As Garin caught sight of his victorious countryman leaving Court 7, he yelled his name before giving a congratulatory thumbs-up.
“So good, so good. I’m so happy for that,” the world No.218 said upon hearing both had advanced. “We’re going to make it well in the future. If I get to the main draw it would be a dream.”
Jarry, the world No.182, admitted it was impossible to block out his countryman’s celebrations from Court 4. And it came at an opportune moment.
I just want to keep going and keep enjoying this beautiful tournament.
“Before I returned that last point I saw him scream and I was like ‘I’m going to do that same thing right now’,” Jarry said. “He (Kravchuk) served to the body and I just went down the line.”
Since the retirements of former Australian Open runner-up and Olympic gold medallist Fernando Gonzalez, fellow Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu and former world No.1 Marcelo Rios, Chile has been starved of success on tour.
Jarry and Garin are the South American nation’s next great hopes and have the full support of the trio of former champions.
“It’s very inspirational. We learn a lot about them,” Jarry said. “They’re very close friends to us. Fernando, we even play golf sometimes, we do barbecues.
“With Nico and Marcelo Rios, they’re a part of the Davis Cup team so we see them each year like four or five times so it’s very nice to have them support you. They’re like a second team. Now we try to do our best and try to have the same careers they had.”
Garin’s next assignment will be against Australian John-Patrick Smith, while Jarry will face Denis Novikov after he downed fellow American, 19-year-old Stefan Kozlov, in straight sets.
A string of Jarry’s and Garin’s fellow young prospects closed to within one win of reaching the main draw on Wednesday.
Austrian 21-year-old Sebastian Ofner defeated Serbia’s Miljan Zekic 6-4, 6-3 to set a final-round date with Brit Jay Clarke. The 18-year-old Clarke saw off Swedish 21-year-old Elias Ymer in straight sets.
Japan’s Tatsuma Ito brought an end to 18-year-old Australian Alex De Minaur’s run, however. The former world No.60 prevailed 6-2, 6-4.
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