Roger Federer has been defeated by Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in an exhibition match played at Sao Paulo on Thursday. Bellucci won the match by 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
This was the third match between these two players. In the previous couple of matches, Federer had come out victorious. But, this time around, he was surprised by the Brazilian youngster.
People turned up in large numbers to cheer for the local lad and they got their money’s worth.
Bellucci was off to a fantastic start in the match. He broke Federer’s service once in the first set and won it by 7-5. But, he couldn’t carry on the momentum in the following set. Federer played some gorgeous shots in the second set and Bellucci seemed to have no answer of those shots. The second set was comfortably won by Federer and the match was evenly poised at that stage.
Federer started the third set pretty well and took the lead of 2-0. But, he didn’t manage to maintain the lead till the end. His service was broken twice after that and he lost the third set by 6-4.
In the post match interview, Federer said, “Brazil is a glorious place. I enjoyed my trip over here. I would like to thank the fans who turned up here to watch the match. They supported both the players and that was nice to see.”
When asked about his performance in the match, Federer said, “I managed to bounce back in the second set, but, in the final set, I played some loose shots and had to pay the price for it.”
On the other hand, Bellucci was ecstatic after defeating Federer for the first time in his career. He said, “It’s a great victory for me. Federer is one of the greatest players of all times and securing a victory against him is always special.