Ferreira Upset By Brazilian Wild Card; Forget Edges Haarhuis

Brazilian wildcard Jaime Oncins produced the shock of the year so far on the ATP Champions Tour on Friday when he dispatched Former World Number Six Wayne Ferreira 7-5, 0-6, 10-7 (Champions’ Tie Break) in the Grand Champions Brasil in Sao Paulo.

Oncins, a Sao Paulo native who reached a career high ranking of 34 back in 1993, showed no fear in the opening set of his match against Ferreira. The 39-year-old impressed his onlooking Brazilian supporters with a clever use of spin and angles, while his South African opponent as unable to stem the tide of winners from the Oncins backhand.

The second set saw a complete reversal of momentum as Ferreira started to play with more aggression, and Oncins’ fearless game began to falter. A 6-0 set ensued and a Champions’ Tie Break was called upon to decide the match. The tie break was an edgy affair, with neither player able to produce the flowing, dynamic tennis of earlier in the match. Two double faults from the Brazilian ought to have been costly but Ferreira was unable to capitalise and in the end a couple of nervy errors from the South African’s racquet handed the set and the match to a delighted Oncins.

After the match, Oncins explained how happy he was to have won in front of his friends, family and fans at home in Brazil.

“I think it was a very good match for me,” he said. “Always when I play a tournament like this I try my best and Wayne is a very good player so I am so happy with this win. At least I won one match this week which is good. That was my goal coming in to the tournament, to win one match playing in front of my kids so I’m really happy with the result today.”

Oncins also talked about the challenge of coming back from losing the second set 6-0.

“The big thing about the Champions Tie Break is that you always have a chance and the pressure is equal on both sides,” he said. “So even though I lost the second set 6-0 I got to start again in the third set tie break and then I got some luck and I played well for a few points at the end of the tie break and was able to come out on top.”

Meanwhile, in Group B, Guy Forget took his revenge against Paul Haarhuis, the man who defeated him in the final of the AEGON Masters Tennis in 2007, with a 6-2, 7-6(5), 10-8 (Champions' Tie Break) win over the Dutchman. Forget now moves in to second place in the Group behind Yevgeny Kafelnikov, whilst Haarhuis, with two losses on the board, is now out of the tournament and stands no chance of reaching Sunday’s final or third place play-off match.

Matches in Sao Paulo are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in Sunday's final.

Sao Paulo is the fifth of ten stops on the ATP Champions Tour in 2010, which culminates with a season-ending AEGON Masters event at London’s Royal Albert Hall from 30th November to 5th December. The season began in February in Delray Beach, where Pat Rafter beat John McEnroe in the final. At the second event in Zurich in March, Stefan Edberg overcame Goran Ivanisevic in three sets. Following that Enqvist beat Ferreira in the final in Bogotá, having swept through the tournament without the loss of a set. At the most recent event in Barcelona, Enqvist saw his unbeaten run halted in the final by Ivanisevic. After Barcelona, the tour will also call in at Graz, Austria, followed by events in Algarve (Portugal), Paris (France) and London (UK).

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, click results.