Italian Matteo Berrettini debuted with a victory in his second appearance at the Rio Open presented by Claro. On Tuesday, one of the main attractions of the ATP 500 tournament defeated the lucky loser Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera (7/6(1), 7/5) in a hard-fought match on the Guga Kuerten Court.
“I knew it wouldn't be an easy match. He played two matches in the qualifiers and I haven't had many matches this year. So I'm very happy and I have good feelings about this tournament,” said the world ranking number 57, who will face another lucky loser in his next match, Serbian Dusan Lajovic.
Berrettini had the special support of his compatriot and coach of the Brazilian national football team, Carlo Ancelotti. The grandson of a Brazilian woman, Berrettini played with the Portuguese language and wrote "Rio, tudo bom?" (Rio, alright?) on the camera lens at the end of the match, to celebrate his 15th victory in 16 first rounds on clay.
