Brazilian tennis player Thomaz Bellucci retires at age 35

Thomaz Bellucci (Karya Sendiri, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Juan Diego Ramirez Carvajal of the ATP Tour on Wednesday, Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci played his final match of his ATP career. It came in the first round of the Rio Open, in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to the sixth seed, Sebastian Baez of Argentina.

Throughout his career, Bellucci won four ATP titles, all on clay. He defeated Andreas Beck of Germany, 6-4, 7-6, in the final of the 2009 Swiss Open, Juan Monaco of Argentina, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4, in the final of the 2010 Chile Open, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the 2012 Swiss Open, and Joao Sousa of Portugal, 7-6, 6-4, in the final of the 2015 Geneva Open.

It is interesting that Bellucci won three of his four ATP tournaments in Switzerland. A left-handed player, Bellucci was ranked as high as 21st in the world. That was an accomplishment he set back in July of 2010.

One could argue that Bellucci’s most notable victory came over three-time grand slam champion Andy Murray of Great Britain. Bellucci beat Murray 6-4, 6-2 in the third round of Madrid in 2011. At the time, Murray was ranked fourth in the world.

Bellucci also won one career doubles tournament. He teamed up with Facundo Bagnis of Argentina to win the 2013 Stuttgart Open. In the final, Bellucci and Bagnis beat the Polish duo of Tomasz Bednarek and Mateusz Kowalczyk 2-6, 6-4, [11-9].

There are no more Brazilians left at the 2023 Rio Open. The defending champion is world number two Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, the reigning United States Open champion. Last year in the Rio Open final, Alcaraz beat Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, 6-4, 6-2.

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