Brazilian tennis had 100% success in its debuts on clay at the Masters 1000 in Rome. This Thursday (9), Beatriz Haddad Maia from São Paulo, Thiago Wild from Paraná advanced to the second round of the main draw of the tournament – both in singles and doubles – and Marcelo Melo from Minas Gerais, who competed in doubles, alongside the German Alexander Zverev. 
Number 13 in the world, Bia Haddad started behind on the scoreboard against the Chinese Xinyu Wang (42nd in the ranking), who won the first partial by 4/6. After the scare, Bia didn’t give her opponent any more chances: she scored 6/3 and 6/4, sealing the comeback victory by 2 sets to 1. Bia returns to the court on Sunday (12) to face the North American Madson Keys (16th), at a time yet to be defined.
Thiago Wild also had a lot to celebrate in Rome. The Paraná native, 61st in the world rankings, eliminated Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (115th) on his debut, with scores of 6/4 and 6/2. Afterwards, Wild also won the men’s doubles debut, playing alongside Argentine Sebatián Baez. They defeated by 2 sets (6/3 and 7/5) the partnership between Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. On Saturday (11), Wild will face Argentine Tomás Etcheverry in the second round of singles. In doubles, the opponent for the next match remains undefined.
Thiago Wild from Paraná faces Argentine Tomás Etcheverry on Saturday (11) in the second round of singles – Fernando Frazão/Agência Brasil
There was also no lack of emotion in Marcelo Melo’s doubles debut. Monte Carlo Masters 1000 runners-up Last month, Melo and Zerev fought a fierce battle before dispatching partners Neal Shupski (England) and Austin Krajicek (United States) 2 sets to 1, 7/6 (7-0), 6/7 ( 5-7) and 11-9.
“I think it was a beautiful game from us today. It was certainly very tough, playing against two high-level doubles players in the first round here in Rome. We had to stop because of the rain too, winning 4-3 in the tie-break, they finished taking the second set. We had an advantage in the tie-break match, then we saved two match points. Anyway, there are many more positive things to take from this debut and we are going with everything now in the next round”, celebrated the tennis player from Minas Gerais.
Melo and Zverev will compete in the round of 16 on Sunday (12), against the pair of Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) and Ben Shelton (USA).
Luisa Stefani debuts this Friday
The duo from São Paulo Luisa Stefani and the Dutch Demi Shuurs compete in the first round of Madrid against partners Giuliana Olmos (Mexico) and Alexandra Panova (Russia) this Friday (10), after 11am (Brasília time).
