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 Lorenziof 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.
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…
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…
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…