Is Alejandro Tabilo a player to watch in Rio de Janeiro? Chilean starts confidently | ATP Tour
rio de janeiro
Is Tabilo a player to watch in Rio de Janeiro? Chileans start confidently
Fonseca and Melo advance to doubles
February 17, 2026
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Alejandro Tabilo beat Emilio Nava in straight sets on Monday in Rio de Janeiro.
Written by ATP Staff
Can Alejandro Tabilo have a big week on clay in Brazil?
The Chilean southpaw got off to a good start at the Rio Open in Claro on Monday, defeating American Emilio Nava 6-3, 6-3 in just 63 minutes.
Tabilo has just reached the quarter-finals after defeating Joao Fonseca at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires. Now, the former PIF ATP Ranking No. 19 and three-time ATP Tour champion will pursue his first ATP 500 title.
According to Infosys ATP statistics, the winner won 86% of service points and faced no break points against the American. Tabilow will next face qualifier Dino Prizmic or lucky loser Francesco Passaro.
German Yannick Hanfmann also had a great result with a 7-6(3), 6-4 victory over Brazilian wild card player Joao Lucas Reis Da Silva.
“Of course, very satisfied. Playing a difficult first game against the Brazilians in midfield is not the easiest task,” Hanfmann said. “I knew that, especially the night match. I was serving well and trying to stay calm the whole match. I knew it was going to be tricky.”
Serbian Dusan Lajovic, a 2019 Monte-Carlo ATP Masters 1000 clay court finalist, earned his first Lexus ATP Head2Head Series victory with a 6-4, 7-6(7) victory over Daniel Altmaier. Altmaier still leads their series 2-1.
Other players who advanced on the first day of the main draw include Thiago Agustin Tirante, who defeated Cristian Garin 7-5, 6-3, and Ignacio Buse, who defeated qualifier Igor Marcondes 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Vit Kopriva also defeated wild card player Gustavo Heide 6-2, 7-6(5) to advance to the second round.
In the only doubles match of the day, Brazilian star Joao Fonseca partnered with compatriot Marcelo Melo and defeated substitutes Romain Andres Buruchaga and Andrea Pellegrino 6-4, 6-4. It was Fonseca’s first tour-level doubles victory in her career.
