Pablo Cuevas capped off a brilliant couple of weeks in Brazil, backing up his win in Rio de Janeiro with the Brasil Open title after defeating Pablo Carreño 7-6, 6.3 in the final. The Uruguayan, considered as one of the best claycourters in the world, defended his title from 2015 and clinched his fifth career crown en route.
The opening set was an exciting one with no break of serves and Cuevas only managed to get the better of his younger counterpart in the tie break where he came out on top 7-4.
Buoyed by this lead, Cuevas really turned it on in the second set and broke Carreño in the third game. The Uruguayan took a 5-2 lead but didn’t manage to serve it out after his Spanish opponent showed one last glimpse of belief to break back but it was just a mirage as Cuevas executed a brilliant return game to finish off the match and clinch the title.
“These have been two excellent weeks, especially in Rio de Janeiro where I think I was at my best. This week I won but I don’t think I played as well at times”, said Cuevas, who will appear at 25 in next weeks ranking, just four places shy of his career best. “The truth is I’m not worried about my ranking but I’m happy to have recorded enough points to reperesent my country at the Olympics. That was one of my dreams, now I hope to arrive there in good form and fight for a medal”, capped off Cuevas.