Thiago Monteiro salvaged local pride at the Brasil Open by producing one of the biggest upsets -if not the biggest- of the year by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the opening round.
After defeats to Bellucci and Souza few could have expected that Monteiro would be the player to give the locals something to cheer about. The 21 year-old, who is currently ranked 338 in the world, has only featured on the Challenger tour so far this season, and even fell in the qualifiers a month ago at the Buenos Aires Challenger. But this victory means he will rise 61 places in next week’s rankings, all the way to number 277.
“I prepared for this knowing that it would be an incredible opportunity to play against a top ten player. It was a surprise for me to see that I’ve got the level to compete against these players”, said Monteiro after his huge victory.
In other action today, Fabio Fognini was forced to retire against Daniel Gimeno when he was 6-4, 1-3 up because of some pains in his rib area. The Spaniard already received a stroke of luck in the opening round when Juan Monaco retired with a shoulder injury and he will now take part in the quarter finals without having won a single set in the entire competition.
Dominic Thiem also booked his place in the quarter finals with a straight sets win over Diego Schwartzman (7-5, 7-5) and will take on the winner of the clash between Albert Ramos and David Ferrer.
