{"id":170,"date":"2014-02-26T18:16:50","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T18:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mariabueno.org\/?p=170"},"modified":"2014-03-09T19:47:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T19:47:27","slug":"a-brazilian-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mariabueno.org\/indextemp.php\/a-brazilian-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"A BRAZILIAN TRIUMPH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rio de Janeiro, 26 February 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/a>

Maria Bueno takes time out to have a hit in Rio<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a long but\u00a0 enjoyable ten days in Rio for Maria, who seemed to be running from pillar to\u00a0 post at times.<\/p>\n

Maria\u2019s commitments\u00a0 there were extensive, ranging from on-court appearances to long stints in the\u00a0 commentary box for SporTV.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriday was quarter\u00a0finals day and a very long day,\u201d said Maria. \u201cProbably my longest of the week!\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria took every\u00a0 opportunity she could get to have a hit on court herself and Rio\u2019s Jockey Club\u00a0 was no exception where she has been watched by large crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u00a0 took me a while to get around the site,\u201d she laughed. \u201cI was stopped all the\u00a0 time to sign autographs and pose with fans for photos. I\u2019m amazed these people\u00a0 are of all ages \u2013 from those my age down to young kids!<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very touched at\u00a0 the warm reception I got from the crowd the other night at my presentation. It\u00a0 was really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time out<\/h2>\n

Last Saturday she was\u00a0 scheduled to pop into Nick Bollitieri\u2019s Clinic for a quick personal appearance\u00a0 and to catch up with her old friend.<\/p>\n

Imagine her surprise\u00a0 when she arrived to be begged by organsiers to take over the show as Nick had\u00a0 been snowed in the United States and his flight cancelled.<\/p>\n

\"Rio<\/a>

Rio Open Kids Day Clinic<\/p><\/div>\n

Two\u00a0 hundred children participated in the Rio Open presented by Claro hdtv Kid\u2019s Day\u00a0 to get a taste for playing tennis, many from social projects in Rio, and\u00a0 experience the venue of the greatest tennis event in South America.<\/p>\n

Maria had her hands\u00a0 pretty full as she and local coaches organised the kids into groups over the six\u00a0 courts set aside for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u00a0 was a bit chaotic but the kids had fun and that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d said Maria.\u00a0 \u201cIt was very hot too \u2013 35 degrees \u2013 so it as quite an effort from everybody!\u201d<\/p>\n

The clinic also\u00a0involved Maria signing hundreds of autographs and posing for photos.<\/p>\n

\"Maria<\/a>

Maria Bueno signs autographs<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cUsually people\u00a0 aged 40 or more ask to take photos with me. Here kids are asking. That is a big\u00a0 surprise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In all a great success,\u00a0after which Maria had a hit and then returned to the commentary box for the semi\u00a0 finals.<\/p>\n

The surprise of the day\u00a0 was the straight sets win of Alexandr Dologopolov over the second seed, David\u00a0 Ferrer, 6-4 6-4, while world number number one, Rafael Nadal, had to fight hard\u00a0 against compatriot Pablo Andujar.<\/p>\n

\u201cRafa dropped the\u00a0 opening set and had to fight right down to the wire,\u201d said Maria. \u201cHe won\u00a0 through in the third set tiebreak but it was a battle and a thrilling match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadal looked tired\u00a0 after the match and admitted he didn’t feel the same energy as on other days due\u00a0 to the heat and humidity. He also suffered cramps in his hand.<\/p>\n

Interestingly,\u00a0it was the 17th match of Nadal\u2019s career that he won less points than his\u00a0opponent (106 to 108), but won 2-6 6-3 7-6(10).<\/p>\n

The WTA Event<\/h2>\n
\"Teliana<\/a>

Teliana Pereira and Maria Bueno<\/p><\/div>\n

In the women\u2019s event,\u00a0 the top seed Klara Zakopalova handed out a 6-2 6-1 defeat to Brazilian favourite\u00a0Teliana Pereira and cruised into the final where she met the Japanese Kurumi\u00a0 Nara.<\/p>\n

Pereira is the first\u00a0 Brazilian woman in 23 years to crack the WTA top 100 and she enjoyed meeting\u00a0 Maria, who is an icon in her country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been very good\u00a0 for the tournament to have such Brazilians doing well in both the men\u2019s and\u00a0 women\u2019s events,\u201d said Maria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThomaz and Teliana\u00a0 have more than justified the wild cards they received and this whole event is a\u00a0 great boost for tennis in Brazil. It is important it is a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATP Boss in town<\/h2>\n
\"Chris<\/a>

Chris Kermode, the new boss of the ATP paid a visit to Rio<\/p><\/div>\n

ATP President and CEO\u00a0Chris Kermode was in Rio assessing the tournament and was pleased with what he\u00a0 had seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cStartup events\u00a0 are very different,\u201d Kermode said. \u201cIt is incredibly difficult to work\u00a0 everything right. Here we have a fantastic venue, many things being put\u00a0 together. For a year one, this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kermode,\u00a0who started a three-year term as head of the ATP this year, added: “There are\u00a0 always improvements along the way, but it doesn’t get much better than this. The\u00a0 venue is beautiful, the surrounding is beautiful, the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria caught with him\u00a0 while he was there and it seems Chris is also talking about the possibility of\u00a0 raising the level of the tournament in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe recognises that\u00a0 Brazil and South America are great markets for tennis,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is so\u00a0 much attention on us right now, with the World Cup and the Olympics, so we need\u00a0 to take advantage to give tennis also a big push.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rio Open is an ATP\u00a0500 event and one of 61 tournaments in more than 30 countries.<\/p>\n

Finals Day<\/h2>\n
\"Maria<\/a>

Maria Bueno presents the trophy to surprise winner Kurumi Nara from Japan<\/p><\/div>\n

Maria\u00a0presented the trophy to surprise winner Kurumi Nara, who arrived in Rio as just\u00a0 another player in the main draw of the first WTA event of the city.<\/p>\n

The world number 62\u00a0 couldn’t believe she defeated the top seed Klara Zakopalova 6-1 4-6 6-1 on\u00a0 Sunday to take the Sugar Loaf inspired trophy.<\/p>\n

Nara moved into the top\u00a0 50 in the WTA rankings for the first time in her career this week.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0 the men\u2019s final Nadal beat Dolgopolov 6-3 7-6(3) and never looked under threat\u00a0 on his way to winning his 43rd clay court title and stretching his record on the\u00a0 surface to 298-21, the best of the Open era.<\/p>\n

Dolgopolov hit several\u00a0 exquisite winners, especially from the backhand wing, but struggled to find a\u00a0 consistent enough game to trouble Nadal, who made only a handful of unforced\u00a0 errors in the whole match.<\/p>\n

The 2013 French Open\u00a0 champion has not lost on clay since his defeat by Novak Djokovic in the Monte\u00a0 Carlo Masters 10 months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fantastic\u00a0 tournament and Luiz [Fernando Carvalho] should be very proud of what he and his\u00a0 team did in Rio,\u201d concluded Maria. \u201cI was very pleased to play a small part in\u00a0 all that and wish them every success in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rio de Janeiro, 26 February 2014 It was a long but\u00a0 enjoyable ten days in Rio for Maria, who seemed to be running from pillar to\u00a0 post at times. Maria\u2019s commitments\u00a0 there were extensive, ranging from on-court appearances to long…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nA BRAZILIAN TRIUMPH - Maria Esther Bueno<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mariabueno.org\/indextemp.php\/a-brazilian-triumph\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A BRAZILIAN TRIUMPH - Maria Esther Bueno\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rio de Janeiro, 26 February 2014 It was a long but\u00a0 enjoyable ten days in Rio for Maria, who seemed to be running from pillar to\u00a0 post at times. 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