Peru staged a stunning comeback to prevail from a tense South American derby with Argentina and revive their chances of reaching the quarter-finals of the Junior Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas Finals in Antalya.

Following yesterday’s loss to top seeds Czech Republic, Peru’s hopes of making it through to the last eight were dangling by a thread, especially after Argentina’s Lourdes Ayala defeated Daniela Rubio in the opening singles clash of the tie.

Their fightback, however, was instigated by Lucciana Perez – the “real” captain of Peru according to skipper Percy Melzi – as she dispatched Luciana Moyano before joining forces with Rubio to overcome Maria Victoria Burstein and Moyano in the doubles.

Not even that was straightforward, however, as a match tiebreak was required to finally separate the two teams as Perez and Rubio triumphed 6-2 2-6 10-2 in front of a small but partisan Peruvian crowd.

After a round of celebratory photographs, it was left to Melzi to sum up the mood in camp ahead of another crunch showdown with Egypt tomorrow when the finer details of quarter-final qualification will be resolved.

“It is a great win,” Melzi told itftennis.com. “We knew that if we could beat Argentina, we would have a chance to be in the top eight, which would be massive for us and mean so much.

“It was tough yesterday to play Czech Republic – the No. 1 European team. We got here three days before and there is an eight-hour time difference compared to home, which is tough. Today was much better and the girls gave their all. I’m very proud of them.

“For Peru to beat Argentina, it is a huge win and gives motivation for the younger ones coming through. It is also huge motivation for the whole team. We will not be overconfident tomorrow and will do everything we can to win.”

According to Perez, it was a particularly satisfying victory after Peru succumbed to Argentina at last month's South American Qualifying event, with the result primary evidence in support of the team’s unity.

“It was really tough because we lost to them at South American Qualifying and here we came with the mentality to win and our attitude was really strong,” Perez told itftennis.com.

“It was difficult to lose to them previosuly as we knew we could win, but now we have beaten them in the Junior Billie Jean King Cup Finals. We played with a lot of confidence and that was the key to today’s win.

“When it came to the doubles, Daniela and I have known each other for a very long time and we have a lot of confidence in each other. We were always thinking positively and were motivated in each point and stuck to the strategy.”

Elsewhere, Germany took a stranglehold on Group B after defeating Hungary and claiming their second victory of the week, while Canada recovered from yesterday’s defeat to overcome hosts Turkey.

Japan and Morocco both maintained their perfect records by beating Romania and Chile respectively, meaning they seal their places in the last eight with a tie to spare.

Russia are in a similar position in terms of back-to-back victories after posting another resounding success, this time against Hong Kong, while Mexico moved into contention following defeat yesterday as they downed Thailand.

It was smiles all round for Mexico in fact as their boys dispatched Tunisia to maintain their blistering form at the Junior Davis Cup Finals. After their traditional battle cry rang out this morning, Luca Lemaitre overcame Kerouat Yessine 6-2 6-0.

This was followed by another convincing showing, this time by Rodrigo Pacheco against Anas Bennour dit Sahli, before left-hander Pacheco and Sebastian Medica teamed up in doubles to propel their nation to a commanding 3-0 victory.

Mexico are now within touching distance of a place in the last eight ahead of their final group fixture against fellow seeded nation Bulgaria, who have work to do to ensure their own passage to the knockout stages following defeat to Russia.

All outstanding qualification issues will be resolved tomorrow. For now, however, Mexico have the luxury of sitting back and reflecting upon another victory and the satisfaction that comes with delivering on behalf of a proud nation.

“We love to represent Mexico,” Pacheco told itftennis.com. “In addition to playing for ourselves, we also represent our country, which is a country that believes in us. It is positive because they give their all for us and we give our all for them.

“This makes you play at a better level and every point really does count. We do it all for the team, because this is not an individual competition, it is a competition for Mexico.”

This was Medica’s first on-court involvement at the event after Pacheco and Lemaitre took the reins during their opening day win. Exuding as much national pride as Pacheco, the 16-year-old’s attentions are now firmly fixed on his team finishing top of Group B.

“We say, ‘Viva, viva, Mexico’ every time we play, and we hope we will be saying it every day until the end of this tournament,” Medica told itftennis.com.

“We are very happy to have won this tie against Tunisia and we are very happy to have also won against Russia. Tomorrow, we will give again our 100% to finish first in our group.”

For Pacheco, today’s success was the latest in a season which has seen him seal four singles and three doubles titles and rise to No. 65 in the junior world standings – a staggering ascent after finishing 2020 ranked No. 212.

“The beginning of the season wasn’t that good for me,” he added. “But then I recovered playing some tournaments and I gained confidence in myself. I managed to win Grade 3s and Grade 2s and I improved my ranking. I am now in the top 5 players born in 2005.”

Elsewhere, top seeds Czech Republic boosted their quest for the title with a 2-1 victory over Chile, while Japan also claimed their second win of the tournament against hosts Turkey. Such results mean Japan and Czech Republic will both feature in the quarters.

In Group C, Germany and Argentina also won their second ties of the competition, defeating Brazil and Korea, Republic respectively, while in Group D, France and Canada both continued their winning streaks.