VTR Open 2012: Juan Monaco Defeats Carlos Berlocq For The Title

In the last five years, Roger Federer has won six Grand Slam titles. In the last five years, Novak Djokovic went 71-6 in a single season.

In the last five years, Juan Monaco hadn't won a single ATP title. The Argentine-native had made seven finals without winning a title. That all changed Sunday.

Monaco raised his first trophy since 2007 when he won the final round of the VTR Open in Vina del Mar, Chile. Monaco defeated No. 7 seeded Carlos Berlocq in three sets, dropping the middle set which was pushed to a tiebreaker. The final score was 6-3, 6-7(1), 6-1. Monaco was the tournament's No. 1 seed.

In 2007, Monaco won three titles that year, all on clay. The VTR Open was also played on clay. He had finished as the runner up twice in Chile in 2008 and again in 2010.

"Third time is lucky they say, so this time it's true," Monaco joked to the ATP.

Monaco made the finals round after defeating Jeremy Chardy of France, 6-1, 6-4. Berlocq had made the finals after he defeated the tournament's No. 2 seed Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3. 4-6, 6-0. Berlocq's finals round appearance is the first in his ATP career. Before the start of the final match, he had only dropped a single set in the tournament.

Monaco had only one match under his name for the 2012 season coming into the VTR Open. He had an early exit in the year's opening Grand Slam to Philipp Kohlschreiber in a five-set first-round loss. He is now 4-1.

"I'm very happy to be champion again," Monaco said. "I lost the last seven finals, so this is a very special moment for me."

It took three sets for each, but the top two seeds in Vina del Mar have made the semifinal round.

No. 1 seeded Juan Monaco and No. 2 seeded Juan Ignacio Chela are on opposite sides of the semifinal bracket.

Monaco won his quarterfinal match against No. 5 seeded Albert Montanes. It took two minutes shy of two hours, but Monaco wno 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. Only one ace was served the entire match and it was by Montanes.

Chela also had a three-set quarterfinal victory but his took exactly three hours to complete. Chela beat Joao Souza of Brazil, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-1. Chela saved 10 of 13 break point chances.

No. 7 seeded Carlos Berlocq won in straight sets against countryman Federico Delbonis of Argentina, 6-3, 6-4.

The fourth quarterfinal match was also a straight-set victory for France's Jeremy Chardy. He beat Portugal's Frederico Gil 6-2, 7-6 (5).

In the semifinal round, Monaco will face Chardy, while Chela matches up against Berlocq

In one hour and 31 minutes, a qualifier knocked the No. 3 seed out of the Vina del Mar tournament.

Federico Delbonis of Argentina upset Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 6-2, 7-5. Delbonis won 77 percent of the points off his first serve. Bellucci saved only one of five break points.

Delbonis advanced to the quarterfinal round where he will face No. 7 seed Carlos Berlocq of Argentina. Berlocq defeated his countryman, 6-1, 6-2 in the round of 16. He won 87 of the points off his first serve and 71 percent off his second serve.

No. 2 seeded Juan Ignacio Chela also advanced to the quarterfinal. He also beat his countryman Horacio Zeballos of Argentina. 6-4, 7-6 (2). The match took one hour and 52 minutes. Chela will meet Joao Souza of Brazil in the quarterfinals.

In the day's remaining matches,Souza beat Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Four seeds remain in the tournament with three rounds left to play.

Portugal's Frederico Gil made the biggest headlines in Wednesday's matches at the VTR Open. Gil upset No. 4 seeded Pablo Andujar on the clay courts of Vina del Mar, Chile. Andujar won only three games and in just 57 minutes he was knocked from the tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

No. 1 seeded Juan Monaco also beat his opponent 6-2, 6-1. Monaco's one hour and 15 minute defeat of Russia's Igor Andreev featured only one ace (in the first set) and one double fault (in the second set).

No. 5 seeded Albert Montanes defeated qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2. The one hour and 34 minute match advanced Montanes to the quarterfinal round.

Frances Jeremy Chardy also had a victory during Day 3. He beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer, 7-5, 6-2.

Montanes and Monaco will now face each other in the quarterfinals, while Chardy will face Gil in the next round.

Carlos Berlocq of Argentina survived a tight first set before breezing through the second set in his opening-round match at the VTR Open.

The tournament's No. 7 seed, Berlocq beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 7-5, 6-0 in a match that lasted two hours and two minutes.

Berlocq will face countryman Diego Junqueira in the second round.

The tournament in Vina Del Mar, Chile starts a month-long tour of tournaments on clay around Latin America. However, the French Open doesn't begin until the middle of May.

No. 5 seeded Albert Montanes of Spain also advanced to the second round. Montanes defeated countryman Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-2, 6-4. Ramirez Hidalgo hit 10 double faults in the match that last just one hour and 20 minutes.

Montanes will meet Rogeri Dutra Silva in the next round. Dutra Silva is coming off a three-set match in the tournament's opening round. He dropped the first set 6-0 only to come back and win the second set in a tiebreaker and the third set 6-3. He is a tournament qualifier.

No. 1 seeded Juan Monaco, countryman and No. 2 seeded Juan Ignacio Chela, as well as No. 3 seeded Thomaz Bellucci and No. 4 seeded Pablo Andujar all had first round byes.