Cristian Garin Defeats Borna Coric to Reach Rio Open Final

It’s a personal best for Cristian Garin

Following a rain delay, the 23-year-old Chilean tennis player defeated fifth seed Borna Coric 6-4, 7-5in the semifinalsat the Rio Open to log a personal best eighth consecutive match win.

Cristian Garin

Garin, the tournament’s third seed, slept on a 6-4, 4-4 advantage, with rain suspending play. He wasted little time completing his victory, needing just four games on Sunday to reach his fifth ATP Tourfinal (3-1). All five of his tour-level championship matches have come in the past year.

Garin faced a break point in the first game of the resumption, but he was able to maintain his poise and advance after one hour and 44 minutes.

The recent Cordoba Open champion will face Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager or Hungarian lucky loser Attila Balazs.

Guido Pella Wins First-Ever Professional Title at Brazil Open

It’s a special first for Guido Pella

The 28-year-old Argentine tennis player has claimed his first professional title at the Brazil Open.

Guido Pella, Brazil Open,

Pella, the tournament’s third seed, beat Chile’s Christian Garin 7-5, 6-3 in an all-South American final on Sunday to claim his maiden title.

The last time an Argentine player lifted the trophy was Federico Delbonis five years ago.

It was only the second meeting of the two finalists. The previous occasion saw Pella win in the second round of last year’s Argentina Open.

He’d previously been a runner-up four times, at the Rio Open in 2016, the Bavarian Championships in 2017, and the Croatia Open Umag and the Cordoba Open in 2018.

Guido Pella Advances to Brazil Open Final

Guido Pella has made it to the Brazil Openfinal…

The 28-year-old Argentine tennis player advanced by beating Rio Open champion Laslo Djere of Serbia 7-6 (10), 7-6 (1) at the clay-court event Saturday.

Guido Pella

He’ll next face Christian Garin of Chile in Sunday’s final.

Garin eliminated Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4.

The only time the two have previously met was last year in the second round of the Argentina Open. Pella won 6-3, 7-6 (3) on that occasion.

Neither has won a professional title.

Bellucci Upsets No. 1 Seed Kei Nishikori in First Round at Rio Open

Thomaz Bellucci has started his home country tournament with a bang…

The 29-year-old Brazilian tennis player, ranked No. 75 in the world, defeated Kei Nishikori on Tuesday in straight sets.

Thomaz Bellucci

Bellucci upset the top seed in the first round of the Rio de Janeiro Open (Rio Open) 6-4, 6-3.

“It could be the worst match in the last few years,” Nishikori said.

Bellucci, the home country favorite pulled the huge upset during Carnival week in Brazil.

“You don’t see Kei break the racket often,” Bellucci said of Nishikori, who smashed his racket after losing the first set.

Bellucci had lost his previous two matches against Nishikori, including a three-set loss two years ago in the first round of the French Open.

“For me it’s amazing to have a victory like this in Brazil,” Bellucci said. “He’s an unbelievable player. A top five. So it was amazing.”

Cuevas Defeats Guido Pella to Claim Rio Open Title

Pablo Cuevas has claimed his first tournament win of 2016…

The 30-year-old Uruguayan tennis player claimed his fourth ATP singles title with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Guido Pella in the final of the Rio Open on Sunday.

Pablo Cuevas

The match was delayed for more than three hours by a torrential downpour with the first set tied at 3-3.

Cuevas, who defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, came out of the break fresher than Pella, a first-time ATP Tour finalist.

The Rio Open was plagued by rain all week and the men’s final was played in a sparsely filled center-court stadium.

Cuevas, ranked No. 27 in the world, has won all for of his titles on clay. His other titles were in Sao Paulo (2015), and Umag (2014) and Bastad (2014).

Ferrer Beats Fabio Fognini to Claim the Rio Open Title

It could turn out to be a memorable year for David Ferrer

The 32-year-old Spanish tennis player won his second tournament of the season, downing Italy’s Fabio Fognini on Sunday 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Rio Open.

David Ferrer

It’s the 23rd ATP singles title of his career for Ferrer, who has won all eight matches he has played against Fognini, including the previous one — the final on clay last year in Buenos Aires.

Ferrer was seeded No. 2 in the clay-court tournament behind countryman Rafael Nadal.

“It was my best match of the tournament and I’m very happy having won two tournaments this season,” said the 32-year-old Ferrer, who is off to the best start of his career.

Ferrer also won the Qatar Open in Doha.

Nadal lost to No. 6 Fognini in Saturday’s semifinal 1-6, 6-2, 7-5. The loss ended Nadal’s 52-match winning string in semifinals on clay. Nadal, the winner of 14 Grand Slams, has yet to reach the final in three tournaments this season.

Fognini was looking for his fourth ATP singles title.

Delbonis Defeats Paolo Lorenzi at the Brazil Open to Claim His First ATP Title

The second time’s the charm for Federico Delbonis

Playing in only his second ATP final, the 23-year-old Argentine tennis player defeated Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Brazil Open final on Sunday to earn his first ATP title.

Federico Delbonis

Delbonis broke Lorenzi’s serve to start the decisive set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 6 minutes after converting on his second match point.

He jumped and punched the air after sending a winner down the line past Lorenzi’s outstretched arms.

Delbonis celebrated a nearly perfect week in which he also reached the semifinals in the doubles tournament.

“To tell you the truth, I have no words,” Delbonis said. “I played well match after match. It was a great result in the end.”

In his first ATP final, Delbonis lost to Italy’s Fabio Fognini last July after upsetting Roger Federer in the semifinals in Hamburg.

With the victory at the ATP 250 tournament in Sao Paulo, Delbonis will move to 45th in the ATP rankings, a career best.

Lorenzi won the first set on Sunday after breaking Delbonis’ serve at 3-3, but the hard-hitting Argentine started serving well and was never broken again, finishing with 12 aces and no double faults.

Delbonis beat home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci in the semifinals. He had defeated second-seeded Nicolas Almagro in the second round, a three-time winner at the Brazil Open.

It was the first time since 2007 that the Brazil Open wasn’t won by a Spanish player. Argentine Guillermo Canas lifted the trophy that year, and after that the tournament was won by Spaniards Almagro, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Rafael Nadal.

Nadal decided not to defend the clay-court title this week. He chose to play in the first Rio Open, which he won last week.

Nadal Signs Brazilian Pact with Ronaldo’s Sports Marketing Agency

Rafael Nadal is joining forces with a soccer legend to make his (marketing) mark in Brazil.

The 27-year-old Spanish tennis star has hired Ronaldo‘s sports marketing agency, 9ine Sports and Entertainment, to manage his advertising contracts in Brazil.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal’s “non-exclusive” agreement was reached with Goramendi Siglo XXI, which handles the tennis player’s image rights worldwide, according to the agency.

“Nadal is a lot more than just a new partner, he’s an idol that all of us learned to admire for his talent on the courts and for the kind of person that he is,” said Ronaldo in a statement.

The No. 1-ranked tennis star joins Ronaldo’s list of other top sports personalities he manages in Brazil, including Neymar, Rubens Barrichello and Anderson Silva.

Ronaldo was at the Rio Open final last week to watch Nadal, who beat the Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov to win the title.

Delbonis Defeats Albert Montanes to Reach the Brazil Open Semifinals

There’s no crying for Argentina’s Federico Delbonis, only cheering…

The 23-year-old professional tennis player soundly defeated Spain’s Albert Montanes in just over an hour to advance to the Brazil Open semifinals.

Federico Delbonis

Delbonis, currently ranked No. 61 in the world, beat Montanes in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

He’s now one win away from reaching the second ATP tournament final of his career as he continues his quest to win his first career title.

Delbonis will next face either home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil or Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t such a positive experience for his fellow countrymen…

Top-seeded Tommy Haas came back to defeat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals.

Haas broke Zeballos’ serve twice in a row in the decisive set to close the match and take a step closer to his second final of the year.

Haas will next play Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, who reached his first ATP semifinal with an upset 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 win over fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina.

“Lorenzi has been around for a long time so this is a goal I’m sure he has been waiting to achieve for a lifetime,” Haas said. “He has nothing to lose and is going to try to go one more and get to his first ATP tour final. He is a dangerous player. I’m going to have to try to play some of my best tennis.”

The 114th-ranked Lorenzi broke Monaco’s serve to go up 4-3 in the final set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 34 minutes at the Ibirapuera Arena.

The 32-year-old Italian squandered a match point before losing the second set, but was in control in the third to pick up the win in the ATP 250 tournament in South America’s biggest city.

Lorenzi served 12 aces en route to his first pro semifinal after five career quarterfinal losses.

“I’m very happy to finally break through to the semifinals,” Lorenzi said. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities before but was never able to come up with the victory at this stage. For sure this is one of my greatest weeks on the tour.”

The 43rd-ranked Monaco was trying to win his 200th clay-court match. He is the fifth-highest winner on the surface, behind Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro.

Monaco had a set point in the first set but couldn’t capitalize on it.

“It was a very close match, he had his chances in the first set and I had mine in the second, it was very difficult,” Lorenzi said.

Nadal, the defending champion, is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He chose to play at the first edition of the Rio Open, which he won last week.

Suarez Navarro Reaches the Quarterfinals at the Brazil Cup

Carla Suarez Navarro is still in the hunt at the Brazil Cup

The 25-year-old Spanish tennis player, the tournaments top seed, defeated Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens 6-3, 7-6 (2) to reach the quarterfinals of the Brazil Cup on Wednesday.

Carla Suarez Navarro

Both players broke serve twice in the final set, but Navarro dominated in the tiebreak to finish out the match in 1 hour, 45 minutes. The match was briefly interrupted in the second set because of rain.

Navarro will face fifth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania, who beat qualifier Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-3, 6-1.

Third-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, trying to reach her third final this year, cruised into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over French qualifier Alize Lim.

Zakopalova, runner up at last week’s Rio Open, will face Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania, who defeated Brazilian Teliana Pereira 7-5, 6-2.