Santos (SP) – São Paulo native Igor Gimenez managed to secure a place in the main draw of the Santos Brasil Tennis Cup, an ATP Challenger 50 tournament held at Tênis Clube. Gimenez, 24 years old and ranked 654th, beat Japanese Seita Watanabe 7/5 and 6/4 this Monday. His debut in the main draw will be against Lebanese Hady Habib, 286th in the world and seed 4 at the event, in a match scheduled for this Tuesday, around 1pm.
“I won a game just to beat the qualifier here, but it was a very nervous game, with a lot of chances for both sides. Tomorrow I will try to enter more loosely, as the pressure is all on the opponent who is the favorite”, said Gimenez, who is an athlete on the Juninho Tennis team, from São Bernardo do Campo. It is the second challenger that he has beaten the qualification, repeating the result from Porto Alegre last week.
Another Brazilian who was in the last round of qualifying was São Paulo’s Rafael Tosetto, 958th in the rankings, who lost to Uruguayan Franco Roncadelli, 1st seed in the preliminary round and 568th in the ATP, with partials of 1/6, 6/2 and 6/ 0. At the opening of the main draw, the 32-year-old from Rio de Janeiro, ranked 590th, Wilson Leite, was surpassed by the Argentine Gonzalo Villanueva, ranked 427th.
Also this Monday, Nicolas Zanellato from São Paulo also said goodbye in the opening round. The young 22-year-old player and 467th in the ranking was surpassed by the Argentine Santiago Taverna, 2nd seed in the event and 246th place, who scored 6/2 and 6/4.
Full round for Brazilians in Santos
Tuesday’s round will have several Brazilians on the court, with the right to a duel of generations: 30-year-old São Paulo native Pedro Sakamoto, number 300 in the world, faces the 15-year-old guest from Goiás Luis Augusto Miguel, known as Guto, who is preparing to the Roland Garros youth tournament. The center court schedule starts at 10 am with Pedro Boscardin from Santa Catarina facing Argentine Juan Bautista Torres.
Three other Brazilians will be on the court: Karue Sell, also from Santa Catarina, who received an invitation, will debut against Paraguayan Daniel Vallejo, seed 7 in the event. The experienced São Paulo native Daniel Dutra da Silva, finalist in Porto Alegre, faces the Argentinean from the quali Alejo Lingua Lavallen. Pernambuco’s José Pereira plays against Turkey’s Ergi Kirkin.
The Santos Brasil Tennis Cup, is back on the coast of São Paulo and is presented by the Federal Sports Incentive Law of the Ministry of Sports, with the co-sponsorship of Trinity, Stella Artois Pure Gold, Azul Linhas Aéreas – Transportadora Oficial, Alupar, Taesa, Aberje, INNI Sports – Ball and Official Clothing. AppTicket support. The event is held at the Tênis Clube de Santos, and is part of the ATP Challenger Tour world calendar. It is organized by the Sports Institute.
