Thomaz Bellucci won his second-career title. In an evening final, he battled Argentine Juan Monaco for the title in Santiago. The Brazilian outlasted Monaco 6-2 0-6 6-4 in a battle that lasted almost two hours.
Bellucci showed a lot of heart this week. He battled through Lapentti, Capedeville, Schwank and Gonzalez in mostly three-set victories, almost always coming from behind. The Brazilian played a lot of tennis and was on the court almost two hours more than Monaco. It was only a matter of time before the 22 year old lost his legs.
Bellucci instead jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Monaco stopped the bleeding by breaking back in game six. The Brazilian broke back in the following game and successfully served for the opening set. Monaco then won the second set at love, and it looked like experience and legs would catch up to Bellucci. He held his own in the final set and secured a break for the win.
With the title victory, the 22 year old shoots up seven spots to world no. 28 this week. Eight months ago, the Brazilian was ranked 134. Now he is in the top 30.
Bellucci will head to Costa do Sauipe this week on his home turf. He lost in the final to Tommy Robredo last year. Should he win that tournament this year, the Brazilian fans will go wild. Brazilians have not had a lot to cheer about since Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten.
Championship Sunday
Singles Final
3 Thomaz Bellucci (BRA) def. 2 Juan Monaco (ARG) 6-2 0-6 6-4
(Image: Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images)
The Spanish Davis Cup team posed with Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero after recapturing the title this past weekend.
Spanish camaraderie won in the end. Plus, there are details of Ferrer’s bathroom break right after he lost the first-two sets to Radek Stepanek (NYT)
Tignor takes a harsh look at the Davis Cup final participants. He is really hard on Tomas Berdych and kind of hard on Radek Stepanek. It is a little too severe considering the fact that, on paper, the Czechs should have never made it that far, but they did. Other teams allowed the Czechs to get past them when they should have won. Spain just did what it was supposed to do (Tennis.com)
Freep this poll! Ronaldo vs. Nadal (TMZ)
Viktor Troicki beats Novak Djokovic in a Serbian exhibition 7-6. Djokovic does some impressions and talks tennis (Blic)
Andy Murray commits audio terrorism against the world. You have been now warned (The Pop Cop)
Guga will be honored by Brazil's President Lula. I will now be holding my own parade to honor the honors (ATP)
Pat Rafter wins AEGON Masters title (BL's Tennis News)
Roddick rehabs knee after injury (TSN)
The Austrian Open is dropped from the ATP calendar, and the ATP transferred the rights to Nice, France (TSN)
Roger Federer finishes the year No. 1 in singles, and the Bryan brothers finish no. 1 in doubles (ESPN)
(Image: Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images)
In honor of the Brazilian Open . . . Gustavo Kuerten is one of my favorite tennis players of all time. The three-time French Open champion had injuries that plagued his career and eventually underwent two hip surgeries. Unable to really recover from these injuries, he retired last year at Roland Garros. Now in retirement, Guga is apparently going to college:
Kuerten, a former top-ranked player who retired from the circuit last year, found out on Monday that he had won admission to attend a theater college in his hometown of Florianopolis in southern Brazil.
The Brazilian is scheduled to begin classes on Feb. 16, spokeswoman Clarissa Machado Santos said.
Kuerten is one of Brazil's biggest sporting idols, and when he took the admission test last year security was needed to prevent fans from bothering him.
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