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  • Bellucci returns to Brazil in search of more titles

    2/8/10 6:45 AM | Ricky Dimon
    Bellucci returns to Brazil in search of more titles Now a two-time ATP title winner having prevailed on Sunday in Santiago, Thomaz Bellucci heads to his native land looking to go one step further than last year, when he lost to Tommy Robredo in the Brasil Open final.

    Fresh off his second career ATP title at the Movistar Open in Santiago, Thomaz Bellucci will make his third appearance at the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe this week. Bellucci, a resident of Sao Paulo, lost in a three-set 2009 Brasil Open final to Tommy Robredo.

    Even if he did not have the benefit of a raucous Brazilian crowd firmly behind him, the 22-year-old would still have to be considered the favorite to make it two titles in two weeks. Bellucci has emerged as a bona fide force on clay courts even at his relatively young age, and he even took down Chilean legend Fernando Gonzalez en route to last week's triumph.

    In Costa do Sauipe, Bellucci will not have to deal with Robredo or Gonzalez. Robredo is trying his hand at the 500-point indoor event in Rotterdam while Gonzalez is taking a week off. Still, Bellucci will have plenty of competition in Brazil and he actually heads in only as the No. 3 seed.

    Seeded first and second are Juan Carlos Ferrero and Albert Montanes, respectively. Bellucci cannot complain about being in the top half of the draw with Ferrero and avoiding Montanes until at least the final. Ferrero sustained an ankle injury in his first match of 2010 (Auckland) and is almost certainly not yet 100 percent. Montanes, meanwhile, has appeared in seven ATP finals throughout his career--all on clay--and has captured three titles.

    Of course, there are a host of other contenders. Ferrero opens with Eduardo Schwank and the Spaniard's path to a potential semifinal against Bellucci could also include eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet in the quarters.

    Montanes will be challenged in a wide open bottom section that features Marcel Granollers, Frederico Gil, an in-form Lukasz Kubot, No. 4 seed Igor Andreev, and seventh-seeded Horacio Zeballos. Montanes will kick off his Costa do Sauipe campaign against Simon Greul and the 29-year-old Spaniard could go up against Kubot in round two.



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