Brasil Open, São Paulo, Brazil, ATP 250

[britbox]

Monteiro takes the first set. World Wildlife Fund announce seeds are an endangered species in Brazil.

 

[Moxie]

Pleased for Cervantes. I'll be pulling for mrzz's man Monteiro, but Cuevas could take it all.

 

[britbox]

Cuevas pulls it out!

 

[Billie]

Monteiro has been pretty impressive. Even though he lost here, this is his only 2nd tournament, and he didn't go away easily against the hot guy at the moment.

Happy for Dutzee as well, but I suspect he will lose tomorrow. Cuevas is tough right now.

 

[britbox]

Brasil Open Semi Finals

Pablo Cuevas (3) v Dusan Lajovic

Ingo Cervantes v Pablo Carreno Busta

 

[mrzz]

I was curious to see Monteiro playing, but it will be fine to see Cuevas anyway. For the other semi, though, I have little expectations. Anyway, Monteiro is doing well. Let's see where he goes from here. He has a good serve and a good forehand, I would like to see him on hard courts.

 

[britbox]

Thanks to @mrzz who is at the tournament for firing these over...

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

Nice viewpoint you have there @mrzz - you must be in the expensive seats... nibbling on prawn sandwiches and caviar, washed down with the finest of wines.

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

Pablo Carreno Busta joins a Pablo Cuevas in the Brasil Open Final. Cuevas is on a hot streak... Even his wife has to wear oven gloves to touch him.

Cuevas beat Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-4.

 

[britbox]

Brasil Open Final, São Paulo

Pablo Cuevas (3) v Pablo Carreno Busta

v

H2H: Cuevas leads 2-1

2015 Valencia R32 Hard Pablo Cuevas Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2 6-3
2014 Caltanissetta Challenger QF Clay Pablo Carreno Busta Pablo Cuevas 7-5 7-5
2010 Barcelona SF Clay Pablo Cuevas Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-1

Src: http://www.stevegtennis.com/
---

 

[britbox]

 

[mrzz]

Nice viewpoint you have there @mrzz - you must be in the expensive seats... nibbling on prawn sandwiches and caviar, washed down with the finest of wines.

In fact, the cheapest ones... don't ask me. It is a small facility, so everyone is close, anyway. The smart thing is that they made the stands very steep.

Cuevas is rock solid, godd tennis IQ and plays the break points better than his average points. Reasonably fast. With a few more weapons, he would be a serious contender in any clay court tournament. I won't be surprised if I see him go far in a clay masters. QF at RG are quite possible to.

 

[britbox]

... you disappoint me @mrzz - I was thinking you were in the gold VIP section with nice hospitality...

Cuevas man... I don't know what to say, he's surprised me... He's been superb this year. Will be looking out for him as the clay swing unfolds.

Thanks for the pics!

 

[mrzz]

^well, one thing about São Paulo: if you have the money, you can eat extremely well. On the other hand...

 

[mrzz]

Just came from the match, a few words about it (I'm posting this in two different forums):

Cuevas won, in a good match, closely contested first set, blowout in the second. Cuevas, as always, pretty solid, but in a few games here and there. He takes some risks in some receiving games, but hardly puts a foot wrong in his serving games. He always steps up in the pressure points. He is more a grinder than an attacker, but he surprises the opponent with some winners out of the blue. Good back hand, good slice, he can keep the ball very, very low. He really should practice the DTL BH. This time he tried twice (zero in the semis), one net cord (lost the point) and one winner.

Careno-Busta is a good player, good forehand, more aggressive than the average Spanish clay-courter, but lacks some explosion, and his shot selection is sometimes poor. Could have a better foot work too (by the way, Cuevas is pretty good in that department).

If you find some re-runs or internet videos of the match, please watch the third game from the second set. It was a classic. Five or six insanely good points. It was worth my both tickets.

The only bad thing about today's match was the way it ended. Cuevas served for the match at 5-2, played quite bad, two double faults, one near miss and one ugly miss, and lost the game. It was more lack of focus than anything else, as Careno-Busta was already more than beaten at this point. Cuevas breaked for the title in another poor game, as Careno-Busta was playing with his head down since he missed an easy overhead at 40 all while he was trailing 1-3, and trying to stay on the match.

No pictures this time, dead battery on the cell phone...

 

[Moxie]

Thanks for the report, mrzz, and the tip on what to look for. Tennis Channel here didn't show it live, because they're promoting their Premium channel, I'm sure. They showed the rerun of Tomic-Thiem, instead, which is an insult to viewers, since today's was the only ATP final.

 

[Billie]

Thanks for the photos and your report @mrzz . It's always interesting to read from somebody who is there live.

 

[mrzz]

Good that you all enjoyed the "reports". In the last set of the final I realized one thing: Just crossing the street from the central court there's a mall. The best place to watch a match is on its parking lot, three stores above the ground, with no stands or anything in the way. Next year I'll bring a beach chair and lots of pop corn...