18-year-old Thiago Wild wins Maria Esther Bueno Cup and Rio Open wild card
The 19-time Grand Slam champion and the most successful tennis player from Brazil Maria Bueno died at the age of 78 in June and the organizers of the Harmony Society Tennis Club in Sao Paulo have decided to pay tribute to this outstanding player who was the Sao Paulo native. The statue of Maria Bueno has found its place in the Club and they also established the U23 event known as the Maria Esther Bueno Cup, with some of the biggest prospects of the Brazilian men's tennis fighting for the title and also the main draw wild card at the next year's ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro.
Joao Lucas Reis, Orlando Luz, Gilbert Klier, Thiago Seyboth Wild, Lucas Koelle, Fernando Yamacita, Rafael Matos and Felipe Meligeni have gathered to play the event in the round robin format, with two best players from each group earning the place in the title match. Thiago Seyboth Wild and Rafael Matos, both ranked outside the Top 500 on the ATP rankings list have scored all three round robin wins to secure the title match berth and it was an 18-year-old Seyboth Wild who scored a 6-3 6-4 win over Matos to wrap up the title and grab the spot in the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro next February (he would have got it anyway as the most prominent youngster in Brazil).
Rafael played an amazing tennis in the round robin stage, losing just eight games in six sets but standing no chance against the reigning US Open junior champion who scored a commanding win to grab a chance of playing his second ATP tournament after competing here in Sao Paulo in 2018, losing to Carlos Berlocq in three sets. Thiago has won one Futures title this season and he played in another final, also reaching the quarters in Campinas that pushed him closer to the place in the Top 400 before he lost the points in the last two months of the season.
Competing at his last junior event in a career, Thiago Seyboth Wild has won the US Open title in September and he will now switch his focus to pro career, preparing himself for the biggest event of his career so far in Rio between February 18-24, 2019. Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini and Diego Schwartzman have already been confirmed for the sixth edition of this tournament and Thiago will have a chance to fight for 500 points against some of the finest clay courters in the world.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2PTdtMR
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