The longer a match extends, consider it, ‘Advantage, Camilo Ugo Carabelli’.
The Argentine’s past seven wins across all levels have come in a deciding set, including his victory Tuesday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, where he defeated World No. 37 Pedro Martinez 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. It marked the highest-ranked win of Ugo Carabelli’s career.
Ugo Carabelli, 25, is two weeks removed from winning an ATP Challenger Tour title in Rosario, Argentina. In front of his home crowd, he won five consecutive matches in a decider, rallying from a set down three times. In the first round, he ousted countryman and former No. 8 Diego Schwartzman, who was playing his penultimate event.
“I think I can only win in three sets. I don’t know what happened,” Ugo Carabelli said with a laugh, speaking with ATPTour.com. “I work a lot on my physical game, so I think you see it on the court. But for me, it’s better to win in faster matches.”
The Buenos Aires native possesses a strong, muscular build with broad shoulders and the heart of a lion. He looks to engage in long rallies and unleash his power from the baseline, wearing down his opponents with relentless pressure.
Ugo Carabelli used that fortitude last month at the Australian Open in a near four-hour, first-round battle against Learner Tien. While the five-set match went the way of the left-handed American — who went on to defeat Daniil Medvedev en route to a fourth-round run — it was another example that long matches tend to find Ugo Carabelli, World No. 91 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
But these drawn-out, intense battles have not always been kind to Ugo Carabelli. In his first major main-draw appearance in 2022 at Roland Garros, Ugo Carabelli advanced through qualifying before winning a gruelling four-hour, 17-minute marathon against Aslan Karatsev. Ugo Carabelli experienced the joy of triumph before a scary situation happened later that night. In his hotel room, Ugo Carabelli went to the bathroom and abruptly fainted.
“I think dehydration, stress, too many things. It was my first match in five sets,” Ugo Carabelli said. “I think it was the first match ending in a super tie-break in Roland Garros history.
“Really, I don’t remember anything. I woke up on the floor with blood and my coach [Leonardo Olguin] gave me water. I don’t remember too much.”
A year after that frightening incident in Paris, Ugo Carabelli took another step to optimise his physical performance. He added his older brother Jeremias, a nutritionist, to his team.
“He gives me a lot of protein, white rice with olive oil, and some pasta. A lot of fruit. No chocolate, only one per week, maybe two,” said Ugo Carabelli, who is coached by Fabian Blengino.
Ugo Carabelli’s commitment both on and off the court is yielding results. He led the ATP Challenger Tour in match wins last season (49) and won three titles at that level.
Now aiming to reach his maiden tour-level quarter-final as a lucky loser in Brazil, the man that stands in his way is the Challenger Tour’s title leader from last season: Damir Dzumhur, who lifted six Challenger trophies in 2024.
Ugo Carabelli will again rely on his brother’s nutrition guidance before the match, which will be played in sweltering heat.
“Before the match, only white rice, maybe with chicken, but not too much,” said Ugo Carabelli.
Did You Know?In 2024, Ugo Carabelli tallied an 18-7 record in deciding-set matches, across all levels.
