Peruvian tennis player Ignacio Buse defeated American Aleksandar Kovacevic on Friday and will play the final of the ATP 500 Hamburg tournament, the first of his career and Peru's return to an ATP final after 19 years.
Buse advanced to the Hamburg tournament final after defeating Kovacevic (world No. 94) in the semifinals straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, securing his place in the clay-court title match.
Due to this victory, Buse will play in the first ATP final of his career, an achievement he has reached at just 22 years of age.
With Friday's win, "Nacho" has now recorded six consecutive victories at the tournament held in Germany.
During this historic run at the ATP Hamburg event, Ignacio Buse has already defeated Italian Flavio Cobolli—the defending champion and a top-15 player this season—as well as Czech Jakub Mensik and French Ugo Humbert.
Buse's next opponent will be American Tommy Paul (world No. 26), who defeated Australian Alex de Minaur (world No. 9) in the other semifinal.
The final will be played on Saturday, May 23.
The last time a Peruvian tennis player competed in an ATP final was in 2007, 19 years ago, when Luis Horna won the title in Viña del Mar.
Now, Buse will seek to emulate "Lucho" — this time on German soil.
Thanks to this remarkable campaign, Buse has virtually climbed to No. 36 in the live ATP rankings, the highest position of his career so far.
Should he win the final, he would rise to No. 31. In this way, "Nacho" continues to establish himself as one of South America's biggest breakout players of the 2026 season.