Bizarre Coincidence in Madrid Tennis Tournament Offers Ultimate Revenge Chance for Argentine 'Loser' (36)

Marco Trungelliti gets the ultimate chance for revenge on Thursday. The 36-year-old Argentine lost in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open qualifiers to Spain's Daniel Merida Aguilar, seemingly eliminating him from the ATP 1000 tournament. He prudently signed up as a lucky loser, depending on withdrawals from seeded players. These withdrawals materialized, courtesy of Jack Draper, Raphaël Collignon, and Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.

Trungelliti was thus granted entry into the main draw and placed into the main lottery. For his first-round match, none other than Merida Aguilar emerged as his opponent. The two will face each other twice within 48 hours, with Merida Aguilar holding the mental edge, having already defeated the Argentine on the exact same clay surface on Tuesday. The qualifying final ended 7-6, 6-3 in favor of the Spaniard, after more than an hour and a half of play.

As if this coincidence wasn't remarkable enough, both players also reached their first-ever ATP finals in the same week. Trungelliti did so in Marrakech (Morocco), where he lost to Spanish teenage sensation Rafael Jodar. In Bucharest (Romania), Merida Aguilar reached his first career final. He also lost, to Trungelliti's compatriot Mariano Navone.

Just last week, Trungelliti made global headlines by becoming the oldest player ever to debut in the world's top 100. Thanks to his final appearance, the 36-year-old soared to position 76, also because he had few points to defend this year. "This has been a goal my entire career; I've been getting closer and closer over the past two years, and now I'm here. This is fantastic," he told ATP Tour. Until last week, his best ranking was 112th in the world.

Believe it or not, Merida (21) will also make his top 100 debut thanks to reaching the main draw in Madrid. He is currently ranked 101st but has virtually climbed to 91st.