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

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

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.

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.”

Estrella Burgos Wins Third Straight Title at the Ecuador Open

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Make that three in a row for Victor Estrella Burgos…

The 36-year-old Dominican tennis player won his third straight title at the Ecuador Open, beating Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi in a hard-fought three sets.

Estrella Burgos lost the first set in a tiebreak, but bounced back to take the match 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (6).

Sunday’s title was the third in ATP singles for the unseeded Dominican. They’ve all come on clay in Quito.

The third-seeded Lorenzi was gunning for his second ATP singles title after winning last year on clay in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Estrella Burgos advanced with victories over top-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, Federico Gaio of Italy and No. 4 Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil.

Estrella Burgos Wins Ecuador Open Title

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Victor Estrella Burgos is a back-to-back champion…

The 35-year-old Dominican tennis player rallied from a set down to beat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to retain his title on clay in the Ecuador Open in Quito.

It was only Estrella Burgos’ second ATP singles title, and both have come at this tournament.

Bellucci was trying to win his fifth ATP singles title, but he ran out of steam after dropping the second set in a tiebreaker.

The monthlong Latin American clay-court season moves on Monday to Buenos Aires with the Argentina Open, where former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal is the top-seeded player and fellow Spaniard David Ferrer is No. 2. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is No. 3 and American John Isner is No. 4. All four have byes into the second round.

Cuevas Defeats Steve Darcis to Reach Swedish Open Semifinals

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Pablo Cuevas is two matches away from defending his title…

The 29-year-old Uruguayan tennis player, currently ranked No. 25 in the world, defeated Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4 in the Swedish Open quarterfinals on Friday.

In the semifinals, the third-seeded Cuevas faces France’s Benoit Paire, who easily defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-2 in just under an hour.

Also, two-time Bastad champion and second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-3.

It took three sets for Germany’s Alexander Zverev to beat sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.

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

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

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.

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.

Delbonis Reaches Men’s Final at the Brasil Open

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Could the second time be the charm for Federico Delbonis?

In a hard-fought semifinal match at the Brasil Open, the 23-year-old professional tennis player defeated home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in 2 hours, 9 minutes to reach a title match for only the second time in his career.

Delbonis, who lost his first finals match in Hamburg last year, will play Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi – ranked No. 114 in the world – in the men’s final.

Top-seeded Tommy Haas retired from his semifinal match against Lorenzi on Saturday.

Lorenzi was leading Haas 6-3, 3-2 when the German called it quits due to a shoulder injury.

Lorenzi and the No. 61-ranked Delbonis have never faced each other before on the ATP World Tour.

Delbonis Defeats Albert Montanes to Reach the Brazil Open Semifinals

Posted on March 1, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

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.

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.

Bellucci Reaches Quarterfinals at the Brazil Open

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Thomaz Bellucci is making a statement at his home tournament…

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player continued to feed off his home crowd Thursday, defeating Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Brazil Open.

Bellucci, a wild card in the tournament, broke Haider-Maurer’s serve early in the third set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 36 minutes at the Ibirapuera arena.

Bellucci, currently ranked 108th, will now play Martin Klizan of Slovakia, who upset third-seeded Marcel Granollers of Spain 6-4, 6-3.

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina reached the quarterfinals with a marathon 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-5 victory over Albert Ramos of Spain in nearly three hours. He will face Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, who cruised past win Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-4, 6-3.

Top-seeded Tommy Haas will play his quarterfinal match against 116th-ranked Horacio Zeballos of Argentina on Friday.

Bellucci Defeats Santiago Giraldo to Advance in the Brazil Open

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

He may be playing on a wild card at the Brazil Open… But Thomaz Bellucci is proving he’s worth the spot.

The 26-year-old Brazilian tennis player pulled off an upset win over Santiago Giraldo, defeating the Colombian – the tournament’s eight seed – 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to reach the second round of the Brazil Open.

The home-crowd favorite broke Giraldo’s serve to go up 4-2 in the final set, then held on to close out the match in just over two hours at the Ibirapuera arena. The break came right after Giraldo called for treatment on his lower back in between games.

Belluci, ranked No. 108 in the world, had six aces, including three in the decisive set.

“I couldn’t hold on to a 3-0 lead in the first set but I started playing better after that,” Bellucci said. “It makes a big difference to be playing at home with the support of the fans. They got behind me and I got to play more aggressively toward the end. It made a huge difference.”

Bellucci beat Giraldo in three sets last week at the Rio Open. He’ll next face Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer in the second round.

But Belluci isn’t the only Latino playing well in the tournament…

Earlier Tuesday, Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva defeated sixth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in 2 hours, 17 minutes. Albert Montanes of Spain beat Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2, while Federico Delbonis of Argentina defeated Filippo Volandri of Italy 6-1, 6-2.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He won the Rio Open last week.

Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain will play Delbonis, while third-seeded Marcel Granollers plays Martin Klizan of Slovakia.

Argentina’s Juan Monaco, who had a bye in the first round along with the other top seeds, debuts against countrymen Guido Pella.

Bellucci Earns Third Career Title at the Swiss Open…

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Thomaz Bellucci is proving that he’s no underdog…

The 24-year-old Brazilian tennis player upset top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic in the Swiss Open final on Sunday.

Unseeded in the tournament, Bellucci came back after dropping the first set in a heartbreaking tiebreak to win 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.

Bellucci was leading 6-1 in the first-set tiebreaker, before Tipsarevic reeled off seven points for the set. At 5-4 in the second, Bellucci broke the eighth-ranked Serbian’s serve to love to even the match.

In the final set, Tipsarevic saved two match points but double-faulted to present a third, which Bellucci won.

The victory earned Bellucci, currently ranked No. 60 in the world, his third career title and second at Gstaad. He won the clay-court event as a qualifier in 2009.

Meanwhile, Tipsarevic was denied a second straight title after winning on clay last week at Stuttgart, Germany, where he beat Bellucci in the semifinals.

Bellucci and Tipsarevic will compete in the London Olympics at Wimbledon.

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