Thomaz Bellucci

Thomaz Bellucci

Thomaz Bellucci at 2011 Australian Open.
Country	Brazil
Residence	São Paulo, Brazil
Born	30 December 1987 (1987-12-30) Tietê, Brazil
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb; 13 st)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$ 2,031,553
Singles
Career record	84–82
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 21 (July 26, 2010)
Current ranking	No. 37 (January 16, 2012)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	2R (2010, 2011, 2012)
French Open	4R (2010)
Wimbledon	3R (2010)
US Open	2R (2008, 2010)
Doubles
Career record	17–30
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 115 (May 12, 2008)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2010)
French Open	(-)
Wimbledon	1R (2008)
US Open	1R (2009)
Mixed Doubles
Career titles	0
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	(-)
French Open	SF (2011)
Wimbledon	(-)
US Open	(-)
Last updated on: May 9, 2011.

Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born December 30, 1987 in Tietê), a professional tennis player, is the top ranked Brazilian tennis player. He achieved a career high ranking of #21 on July 26, 2010.

Bellucci used a string of ITF Challenger tournament victories early in 2008 to break into the top 100 rankings of the ATP World Tour as a 20-year-old. In 2009, he reached his first tour final at the Brasil Open and won his first tour title at the Swiss Open. In 2010, He won his second tour title at the Movistar Open in Chile.

Thomaz's playing style is using the heavy topspin of his big forehand to control points. He lacks outright power to produce a lot of aces, but he has excellent spin on his serve, allowing him to force his opponents off of the court which leads to him taking the offensive at the beginning of the point. His two-handed backhand is much more compact than his forehand, and is flatter, which allows him to take balls earlier on his backhand wing and drive the ball for winners. His preferred court is clay, but shows the adaptive potential to get much better at faster courts as well.

Juniors career

Bellucci reached a high of #15 in the world two weeks after his 17th birthday, in January, 2005.

Professional career

2007

Bellucci began 2007 ranked #582, but began a rapid ascent in June to finish the year at #202.

2008

The 20-year-old Bellucci continued his rapid rise early in 2008. The first week of the year, ranked #202, he made it to the quarterfinals of a Challenger in São Paulo.

Bellucci had little success in his next few tournaments, but in February he got back on track, beating #145 Pablo Andújar while qualifying into an ATP stop in Buenos Aires and then recording his first-ever ATP match win, over #83 Werner Eschauer, before bowing out in the next round to #25 Juan Ignacio Chela. The following week, he beat #130 Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo and #140 Eduardo Schwank en route to his first-ever Challenger title, in Santiago, Chile, to improve his ranking to #145. The next week, he beat #162 Dick Norman before losing in a Challenger second round match.

In April, Bellucci began an amazing string of Challenger match wins in singles play. First he won a minor Challenger in Florianópolis, Brazil, and made the final in doubles. Two weeks later, he ran his singles streak to 10 matches while winning a major Challenger in Tunis, beating #155 Andreas Beck, #363 Martin Verkerk, #136 Paul Capdeville, #113 Nicolás Massú, and #175 Dušan Vemić, and also won the doubles title. Those wins got him into the top 100 for the first time at #100. The following week, at a minor Challenger in Rabat, Morocco, he ran his streak to 15 matches while beating #136 Capdeville again, #96 Guillermo García López, and #119 Martín Vassallo Argüello to win the title and get his ranking to #81. His streak ended at 17 matches the next week, after beating #128 Rik de Voest to reach the quarterfinals of a challenger in Bordeaux, France, when he finally lost to #111 Igor Kunitsyn, improving Bellucci's ranking to #75.

In late May, he qualified into his first French Open, lost to 3-time defending champion and ATP #2 Rafael Nadal in the first round. At Wimbledon, he achieved his first win in a Grand Slam event, defeating Igor Kunitsyn in four sets.

2009

Bellucci began the year reaching the Brasil Open final for the first time. He upset the former world #1, 2003 French Open champion, and 2007 Brasil Open titlist Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Quarterfinals, but eventually lost in 3 sets to second-seeded Tommy Robredo. It was his first ATP Tour final, after a string of Challengers.

In August, he would win his first title at the Swiss Open in Gstaad after reaching the main draw through qualification and going on to beat local hope and former world #9 Stanislas Wawrinka, former world #4 Nicolas Kiefer, two-time Swiss Open runner-up Igor Andreev, and first-time finalist Andreas Beck in straight sets. Ranked #119 in the world at the time of his victory in Switzerland, Bellucci jumped 53 spots in the ATP World Tour rankings to #66 as a result.

In October, Bellucci reached his first hard-court ATP World Tour semifinal. He reached the last 4 at the Stockholm Open, losing to Olivier Rochus in three sets.

He then followed his good form to win his second challenger title of the year, at the 2009 Copa Petrobras São Paulo in Brazil. He beat Nicolás Lapentti of Ecuador 6–4, 6–4 to win the sixth challenger of his career, and the second on his native soil. This result bumped Bellucci up to #37 in the world, the first time that Thomaz was ranked inside the Top 40 in the world in singles.

2010

Thomaz entered the first tournament of the season, the Brisbane International ATP tournament worth 250 points. He made the quarter-finals after being narrowly edged out by Czech Tomáš Berdych 6–7, 6–2, 6–7. On Heineken Open, at Auckland, he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber 4–6, 1–6 on second round after beating Marco Chiudinelli on a two sets game. Lost to Andy Roddick at the 2010 Australian Open 2nd round.

Going to the Latin America clay tournaments, on 2010 Movistar Open, at Chile, Bellucci defeated defending champion Fernando González in the semifinals and Juan Mónaco in the final match to capture his second tour title. In the 2010 Brasil Open He lost to comaptriot Ricardo Mello in the Quarterfinals. He then played in 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel losing in the second round to eventual champion David Ferrer 6–4, 6–1. In the 2010 BNP Paribas Open after receiving a bye in the first round and a walkover in the second round he lost to Guillermo García López 4–6, 6–2, 6–1. In the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open he upset James Blake in the second round and then won over Olivier Rochus but lost in a hard match to a Spaniard for the third straight time this time to Nicolás Almagro losing 6–4, 3–6, 7–6 in the Fourth Round. In Monte Carlo he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the First Round in three sets 2–6, 6–3, 7–6. In ATP 500 Barcelona reached the Quarterfinals, losing to David Ferrer after defeating Jarkko Nieminen, Victor Hănescu and Guillermo García López. In Rome Masters 1000, defeated Leonardo Mayer, John Isner, and lost to world #2, Novak Djokovic in third round.

He continued in good form at the 2010 French Open. Thomaz reached the fourth round, losing to World Number 2 and former French Open champion Rafael Nadal. He lost in a closely fought battle 2–6, 5–7, 4–6 bringing the match to over 2 and a half hours. On route to the 4th round he defeated 14th seed Ivan Ljubičić 7–6, 6–2, 6–4 in third round, Spanish qualifier, Pablo Andújar 1–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4, 6–2 in second round Michaël Llodra 6–4, 6–2, 6–2 in the first round. Reached the third round in Wimbledon, losing to Robin Söderling, and lost a marathon quarterfinal at ATP 500 event in Hamburg to Seppi.

At the US Open, Thomaz started promisingly, beating American Tim Smyczek in straight sets 6–3, 7–5, 7–6. However, after a gruelling 3h51m battle with South African Kevin Anderson, he succumbed in a fifth set tiebreaker 6–7, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 7–6.

2011

After reaching the quarterfinals in Auckland to start off the year, and losing a heartbreaking 5th set match ending 2–6, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–8 to Jan Hernych in the second at the 2011 Australian Open, Bellucci went through a relatively poor run of form. He failed to defend his title at Santiago losing at the quarterfinals to Fognini. He also reached the quarterfinals at his hometown 2011 Brasil Open but played poorly to get thrashed 1–6, 2–6 by eventual finalist Juan Ignacio Chela.

He did rediscover some form as he then reached the semifinals of the 2011 Abierto Mexicano Telcel tournament, while beating a top ten player for the first time in his career, Fernando Verdasco in the first round 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, which allowed him to progress all the way to the semifinals. However in the semifinal match, he lost to eventual finalist Nicolás Almagro 6–7, 4–6.

At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, after getting a first round bye as the 26th seed, he managed to win his opening second round match against Benjamin Becker 6–3, 7–6 but was unable to progress further as he was dumped out 3–6, 2–6 by Tomas Berdych in the third round.

After this, Bellucci's worrying form continued as he bowed out in the opening rounds of the next three tournaments; at the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open 6–2, 4–6, 6–7 to James Blake (in the second round after receiving a first round bye due to being seeded 27th), the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 3–6, 2–6 to Gilles Simon, and at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 5–7, 3–6 to Santiago Giraldo.

He also appeared at the 2011 Estoril Open, and struggled unconvincingly through to the quarterfinals by beating two players who were outside the top 100. There in the quarterfinals, he lost out to Pablo Cuevas 4–6, 2–6.

Bellucci then finally found a rich vein of form when he appeared at the Madrid Open, managing to claim solid wins over in-form Pablo Andujar 6–4, 6–2 and also an in-form Florian Mayer 6–7, 6–3, 3–0 who retired due to fatigue. At the third round, he produced a cool-headed performance to defeat World Number 4 Andy Murray 6–4, 6–2 to claim his first top 5 win. The following day in the quarterfinals, he backed up his win by producing a brutal display to dismiss World Number 7 Tomáš Berdych 7–6, 6–3 (for the first time in three meetings and notably avenging the loss at Indian Wells) to reach the semifinals of a ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for the first time in his career, and also produce back-to-back wins over top 10 opponents for the first time in his career. Bellucci ended up losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, who was yet to be defeated this season. The Brazilian controlled the match at the beginning, taking the first set 6–4 and going up a break for a 3–1 lead in the second set, but the Serbian fought back and eventually won 4–6, 6–4, 6–1, extending his winning streak in 2011 to 31 matches, and eventually winning the tournament by ending Nadal's 37–match clay winning streak. Bellucci's semifinal effort in Madrid marked eight years since a Brazilian reached a semifinal stage in a Masters Series event, the last being former World No.1 Gustavo Kuerten who appeared in the 2003 Indian Wells final (lost to Lleyton Hewitt).

Besides showing a great form in Madrid, Bellucci lost to local qualifier Paolo Lorenzi in the first round of the Rome Masters in straight sets.

At the French Open, Bellucci (seeded 23rd) defeated Andrey Golubev in the first round 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 7–6. At the second round he defeated Andreas Seppi in 6–1, 6–2, 6–4, showing a strong and solid performance. For the third round, he didn't keep the same rhythm against 13th seed Richard Gasquet. Bellucci made more than 40 unforced errors in this match. Even so, he managed to battle for almost three hours before losing, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6.

Bellucci's next tournament was the AEGON Championship, opening his grass court season. He was defeated in the third round by Marin Čilić 6–7, 6–0, 3–6.

At Wimbledon, he lost in the first round to Rainer Schüttler 6–7, 4–6, 2–6. He made it to the quarterfinals of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, but was defeated by Alex Bogomolov 6–1, 4–6, 1–6.

At the US Open, he was defeated in the first round by Israeli Dudi Sela despite winning the first two sets 6–4, 6–2, 4–6, 3–6, 0–6.

ATP Tour finals

Singles: 3 (2–1)

Legend Grand Slam (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) ATP World Tour 500 series (0–0) ATP World Tour 250 series (2–1)

Titles by Surface Hard (0–0) Clay (2–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Titles by Surface Outdoors (3–0) Indoors (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date (Final)	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	14 February 2009	Costa do Sauípe, Brazil	Clay	Tommy Robredo	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Winner	2.	2 August 2009	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Andreas Beck	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Winner	3.	7 February 2010	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Juan Mónaco	6–2, 0–6, 6–4

Challenger finals

Singles: 9 (6–3)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (6–3)

Outcome	No.	Date (Final)	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	15 July 2007	Bogotá, Colombia	Clay	Carlos Salamanca	6–4, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	22 July 2007	Cuenca, Ecuador	Clay	Leonardo Mayer	3–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	2 March 2008	Santiago, Chile	Clay	Eduardo Schwank	6–4, 7–6(7–3)
Winner	4.	14 April 2008	Florianapolis, Brazil	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	5.	4 May 2008	Tunis, Tunisia	Clay	Dušan Vemić	6–2, 6–4
Winner	6.	11 May 2008	Rabat, Morocco	Clay	Martín Vassallo Argüello	6–2, 6–2
Winner	7.	19 July 2009	Rimini, Italy	Clay	Juan Pablo Brzezicki	3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	8.	1 November 2009	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Nicolás Lapentti	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	30 October 2010	São Paulo, Brazil	Clay	Marcos Daniel	1–6, 6–3, 3–6

Singles Performance Timeline

Tournament	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	SR	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	2R	2R	2R	0 / 4	3–4
French Open	1R	1R	4R	3R		0 / 4	5–4
Wimbledon	2R	A	3R	1R		0 / 3	3–3
US Open	2R	2R	2R	1R		0 / 4	3–4
Win–Loss	2–3	1–3	7–4	3–4	1–1	0 / 15	14–15
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters		2R	3R	3R		0 / 3	3–3
Miami Masters		1R	4R	2R		0 / 3	2–3
Monte Carlo Masters			1R	1R		0 / 2	0–2
Rome Masters		1R	3R	1R		0 / 3	2–3
Madrid Masters			2R	SF		0 / 2	5–2
Canada Masters	1R		1R	2R		0 / 3	1–3
Cincinnati Masters	1R		2R	1R		0 / 3	1–3
Shanghai Masters	Not	2R	2R	1R		0 / 3	2–3
Paris Masters			2R	1R		0 / 2	1–2
Win–Loss	0–2	2–4	8–9	6–9	0–0	0 / 24	16–24
Career Statistics
Titles–Finals	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–3
Year End Ranking	85	36	31	37		$1,760,991

ATP Tour career earnings

Year	Majors	ATP wins	Total wins	Earnings ($)	Money list rank
2004	0	0	0	1,632	1146
2005	0	0	0	3,432	933
2006	0	0	0	7,018	711
2007	0	0	0	32,827	346
2008	0	0	0	221,121	129
2009	0	1	1	406,776	74
2010	0	1	1	682,261	40
2011	0	0	0	676,491	44
Career	0	2	2	$2,031,553	251

* As of Nov 28, 2011.

External links

• Official Site (Portuguese)
• Thomaz Bellucci at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Bellucci Recent Match Results
• Bellucci World Ranking History
• Bellucci ITF Juniors Profile
• Bellucci Davis Cup Profile