TENNIS SAO PAOLO – Nicolas Almagro won the battle between former champions of this event against Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-6 in one of only three matches played on Wednesday. Bruno Bergareche Sans
Only three singles matches took place today in the Brasil Open 2015 in Sao Paulo. First on Quadra Central was fourth seed Leonardo Mayer who took on plucky clay-courter Albert Ramos. The Argentine was playing in his first tournament since the Australian Open, where he lost in the second round to Viktor Troicki, and was therefore making his debut on clay in 2015 just a stone’s throw from his home country. Ramos was also playing his first tennis since Melbourne, and it took both players a while to adapt to the conditions. In the end, Mayer (incidentally the top ranked Latin American player in the world at number 30) outlasted Ramos to seal his first every win over the left handed Spanish player. Next up for Mayer in the quarter finals is the winner of Joao Souza v Martin Klizan.
The second match taking place on the main court was an all South American clash between fifth seed Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay and lucky loser from Argentina Facundo Bagnis (replacing Feliciano Lopez who pulled out with a thigh injury). The match didn’t take long though as Bagnis retired when he was 5-1 down in the first set. The Argentine had won his first match on the ATP tour since Roland Garros when he defeated defending champion Federico Delbonis in the first round but unfortunately had to withdraw because of an injury to his shoulder. After this short outing on court, Cuevas now takes on Nicolas Almagro.
Almagro, precisely, was the last player to jump on Quadra Central to take on compatriot Tommy Robredo in a blockbuster second round match in the Brasil Open. This was the seventh meeting between both Spaniards, with Almagro heading into the clash with a 5-1 head-to-head lead, but Robredo claiming their most recent encounter in the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2013 in five sets. Almagro, now ranked 82 after half a year out with a foot injury, is slowly on the road to recovery after picking up his first win of the season in the first round against Blaz Rola and took on an opponent who has also suffered with injury in this start to the season; the seasoned veteran had to withdraw in his first round tie with Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the Australian Open and was playing in his only other match of 2015 today against Almagro. In the end three-time defending champion edged 2009 champion Robredo thanks to his powerful play, blasting 10 aces and saving 5/6 break points en route to a 6/3 7/6 win.
