Lucky Loser Fights On In Sao Paulo

Lucky loser Roberto Carballes Baena continues to have a strong week at the Brasil Open, knocking out second seed and local favourite Thomaz Bellucci 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to reach his second ATP World Tour quarter-final (Casablanca 2014). The Spaniard needed to be patient to score his biggest win to date, as the second-round match had been slated for Wednesday but was postponed due to rain.

The 22-year-old Carballes Baena, a regular of the ATP Challenger Tour (36-23 record in 2015), won 80 per cent of first serve points and closed out the win in just over two hours. It was his second win over a player in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (d. Sousa in Casablanca 2014) and a first quarter-final showing since reaching the semi-finals of Casablanca two years ago (l. to Garcia-Lopez).

Advancing to the quarter-finals were third seed Pablo Cuevas and fourth seed Federico Delbonis.

Cuevas, who beat Rafael Nadal en route to the Rio title last week, improved to 3-0 in his FedEX ATP Head2Head rivalry against Facundo Bagnis. The pair had squared off in the first round of Rio just a few days ago, and Cuevas maintained his mastery of the Argentine with a 6-3, 7-5 victory.

Delbonis needed two hours to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 against Diego Schwartzman. The left-hander was broken three times in the opening set, but did not drop serve the rest of the way. He finished with nine aces and improved to 2-0 at tour-level against Schwartzman.

Melo/Soares Ease Past Wild Cards

Top seeds Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares made a fine start to their doubles campaign in Sao Paulo, defeating wild cards Nicolas Almagro and Eduardo Russi Assumpcao 6-1, 6-3 in the first round. The Brazilians fired six aces and were not broken in the 51-minute win.

Third seeds Maximo Gonzalez and Andre Sa advanced thanks to a 7-6(4), 6-1 victory over Italians Marco Cecchinato and Paolo Lorenzi. Gonzalez/Sa won 91 per cent of first serve points and saved both break points faced.