BRAZILIAN fans will have walked away from the Rio Open ecstatic about what their representatives had achieved on the second day of main draw action. While wildcard, Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves ultimately went down to number one seed and tournament favourite Dominic Thiem, the world number 168 pushed the top five player to three sets in just over two hours. It was better news for another Brazilian in Thiago Monteiro, who in the game after on Quadra Guga Kurten, won 5-7 6-4 7-6 in three hours and three minutes of action.

Monteiro served up eight aces and won 70 per cent of his first serve points against a surprisingly inconsistent Guido Pella. The fourth seed Argentinian was the South American nation’s best hope of taking out the title given the withdrawal of Diego Schwartzman, but he had seven double faults for only two aces and could not get his usual rhythm going. While he was still solid, averaging a higher 72 per cent of his first serve points, he struggled off his second serve with just a 36 per cent success rate. Pella also broke five times – the same amount as Monteiro and almost won having led by a set and forced the match into a deciding third set tiebreak. But with the home crowd cheering the Brazillian on, Monteiro won the tiebreak 7-3 and moved into the Round of 16 after a classic encounter.

It was forgettable day for the South Americans with Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer and Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas both exiting the tournament in the opening round. Italian, Lorenzo Sonego and Hungarian, Attila Balazs were the victors in those respective contests, while another Italian, Gianluca Mager caused the upset of the day with the qualifier stunning eighth seed Casper Ruud – coming off his maiden title win in Buenos Aires – to win 7-6 7-5 and move through to the Round of 16. In other results, second seed Dusan Lajovic had to fight off an early challenge from Italian, Marco Cecchinato to win in three sets, while fifth seed Borna Coric was able to dispose of clay court star, Juan Ignacio Londero in straight sets. Finally, Jaume Munar defeated Salvatore Caruso out on Quadra 4, before Portuguese qualifier, Joao Domingues moved into the next round with a 7-6 6-4 triumph over Italian lucky loser, Federico Gaio.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] D. Thiem (AUT) defeated [WC] F. Rodrigues Alves (BRA) 6-2 4-6 6-1
[2] D. Lajovic (SRB) defeated M. Cecchinato (ITA) 6-4 6-7 6-1
T. Monteiro (BRA) defeated [4] G. Pella (ARG) 5-7 6-4 7-6
[5] B. Coric (CRO) defeated J. Londero (ARG) 7-6 7-5
[Q] G. Mager (ITA) defeated [8] C. Ruud (NOR) 7-6 7-5
[LL] A. Balazs (HUN) defeated P. Cuevas (ARG) 6-4 6-3
L. Sonego (ITA) defeated L. Mayer (ARG) 6-1 5-7 6-4
J. Munar (ESP) defeated S. Caruso (ITA) 7-5 6-4
[Q] J. Domingues (POR) defeated [LL] F. Gaio (ITA) 7-6 6-4