After in Spain they ate the twelve grapes to greet the arrival of the desired 2022, in Australia, where they had celebrated the New Year ten hours before, Pablo Carreño He went to the Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney to represent the National Team in the first tie of Group A of the ATP Cup against the Chilean Alexander Tabilo. And it could be said that the man from Gijón suffered a symbolic hangover due to how much it cost him to carry out his game against a rival in theory inferior, 24 years old and 139th in the world. who he beat 6-4 and 7-6 (4). This is how the Navy went ahead while waiting for the duel between the number one Christian Garín and Roberto Bautista.
Carreño had to overcome adverse markers in both sets. Both started them with a 3-0 against, which forced him to make extra efforts so that the encounter did not escape him. In the first he was broken down twice and in the second he was faced with a dangerous 5-2 against before avoiding an unwanted extension when Tabilo served 5-3 to equalize. Among other things, Pablo was penalized for his poor performance with the serve (six double faults) in much of the duel, until he hit the key to stabilize it and impose its ranking and quality.
In the decisive moments, the Asturian focused and avoided complications in a well-played tiebreaker after starting it below on the scoreboard (1-3). To manufacture this opportunity, he refined his aim, especially with the parallel backhand, and increased production of winning shots. In this way, he had a good start to the season before facing the first Grand Slam of the course.