By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Adolfo Daniel Vallejo is making tennis history for Paraguay.
The 22-year-old from Asunción beat Italy’s Stefano Travaglia 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden becoming the first Paraguayan man to advance that far at an ATP Tour event since Ramón Delgado made the final four in Costa do Sauipe in 2022.
The win moves him to at least about No. 61 in the ATP singles rankings, moving him closer to being the second-highest ranked player from Paraguay in the ATP rankings. Of course, the highest-ranked and most successful player to ever come out of Paraguay is Victor Pecci, who reached a career-high of No. 9 and was the runner-up to Bjorn Borg at Roland Garros in 1979. Delgado reached a career high of No. 52 in 2007 and is most famous for beating Pete Sampras in the first round of the 1998 French Open and losing to a 15-year-old Rafael Nadal at the Mallorca Open in 2002.
American tennis fans are most familiar with tennis in Paraguay from the famous 1987 Davis Cup match in Ascunion that was won by Paraguay in chaotic circumstances that you can read about here https://tennisgrandstand.com/2026/06/13/usa-vs-paraguays-most-famous-sporting-confrontation-1987-davis-cup/
Despite his career-ranking being only No. 217, the second-most known tennis player from Paraguay – at least in American tennis circles – is Hugo Chapacu, who won an incredible and crazy match against Jimmy Arias in that 1987 tie.
Vallejo has spent 2026 quietly rewriting his country’s tennis record book. In May he beat Grigor Dimitrov at the Madrid Open — Paraguay’s first Masters 1000 match win since 2010 — and followed it with a run to the second round of Roland Garros, the country’s first Grand Slam match win since Delgado beat Sébastien Grosjean at the 2003 US Open. He also became just the fourth Paraguayan man ever to crack the ATP top 100, and the first since Delgado. (The fourth was Francisco Gonzalez who topped out exactly at No. 100 in 1988).
Vallejo gave a preview of his ATP career when he became the world No. 1 junior player in the world in 2022, highlighted by runs to semifinals of the Australian Open and U.S. Open junior championships and was the runner-up in boys’ doubles with Alex Michelsen at the 2022 Australian Open.
As Víctor Pecci himself put it earlier this month, watching Vallejo’s rise from the outside: every time a Paraguayan appears at the top of the sport, the country falls back in love with tennis all over again. It happened with him. It happened with Delgado. It’s happening again now.
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