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Rafael Matos
Brazilian tennis player From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Rafael Fabris de Matos (born 6 January 1996) is a Brazilian professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. He has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 26, achieved on 6 February 2023. On 21 May 2018, he reached a singles ranking of No. 440. He won the mixed doubles at the 2023 Australian Open with compatriot Luisa Stefani, becoming the first Brazilian pair to win a Grand Slam.
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Career
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2019–20: ATP debut
Matos made his ATP main draw debut at the 2019 Brasil Open in the doubles draw partnering Igor Marcondes.[1]
At the 2020 Rio Open, Matos alongside Orlando Luz defeated the 2019 Wimbledon and 2019 US Open champions, and ATP doubles World No. 1, Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah 6–1, 4–6, [10–8].[2]
2021–22: Major debut & first win & quarterfinal, Six titles & top 30 debut
In February 2021, Matos won his first ATP Tour doubles title alongside Felipe Meligeni Alves at the ATP 250 Córdoba Open defeating Romain Arneodo and Benoît Paire. He reached the top 100 in doubles on 3 May 2021 at World No. 99.
He made his Grand Slam debut at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships with compatriot Thiago Monteiro where they reached the second round.
In February 2022, Matos won his second ATP 250 doubles title at the 2022 Chile Open alongside Meligeni Alves.
In April 2022, Matos won his third ATP 250 doubles title at the 2022 Grand Prix Hassan II alongside Spaniard David Vega Hernández. At the 2022 BMW Open he reached his second final with Vega Hernández and fifth overall.[3]
At the 2022 French Open on his debut at this Major, the pair reached the third round with a win over Łukasz Kubot and Édouard Roger-Vasselin but not before defeating 13th seeded pair of Santiago González and Andrés Molteni. They reached the quarterfinals where they lost to 12th seeded pair of Marcelo Arévalo and Jean-Julien Rojer. As a result, he made his debut in the top 50 in the rankings at world No. 43 on 6 June 2022.
Matos reached the top 30 on 31 October 2022 following a fifth title for the season at the 2022 Sofia Open and a final showing at the ATP 500 2022 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships with Vega Hernández. He ended 2022 with six ATP career titles, and having reached world No. 27 in the doubles rankings on 14 November 2022.
2023: Historic Major mixed doubles title
Playing in mixed doubles of the 2023 Australian Open with fellow Brazilian Luisa Stefani, they won the first Grand Slam title for Brazil, an unprecedented feat both as a 100% Brazilian duo and individually.[4]
Throughout 2023, Matos' best results in doubles were: a third round at Roland Garros[5] and runner-up at the ATP 250 in Bastad and Chengdu with Francisco Cabral,[6][7] a semifinal at the ATP 250 in Córdoba with Vega Hernández,[8][9] and quarterfinals at the ATP 500 in Acapulco, Barcelona and Halle.
At the 2023 Wimbledon, Matos competed in the mixed doubles draw, resuming the partnership with Luisa Stefani. In their opening match against Andrea Vavassori and Liudmila Samsonova, they were defeated 2–1 in sets.[10][11]
2024: First ATP 500 title
At the beginning of the season, Matos started a new partnership with Colombian player Nicolás Barrientos, which had already been announced at the end of 2023. In their first competition, the Brisbane International, the duo advanced to the second round (round of 16),[12] where they faced the No. 2 seeds, Dutch player Jean-Julien Rojer and British player Lloyd Glasspool, being eliminated in straight sets.[13]
In the partnership’s second tournament, the Adelaide International, Matos and Barrientos defeated the No. 8 seeds, French duo Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Nicolas Mahut, in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals,[14] where they faced the No. 2 seeds, Indian player Rohan Bopanna and Australian player Matthew Ebden. In this match, they were defeated 2–1 in sets and eliminated from the tournament.[15][16]
After that, Rafael headed straight to Melbourne to compete in the Australian Open, again partnering with Barrientos.[17] Upon arriving in Melbourne, Matos received news that the Australian Open organizers had granted a wild card to Luisa Stefani and him, giving them the opportunity to defend their mixed doubles title won in 2023, even though Matos’s ranking was not high enough to compete alongside Stefani.[18]
In the mixed doubles draw, Stefani and Matos faced British players Joe Salisbury—who partnered with Stefani at the 2023 US Open—and Heather Watson in the first round but were defeated in straight sets, ending their participation in the 2024 Australian Open without successfully defending their mixed doubles title.[19]
Matos partnership with Nicolás Barrientos started to produce good results. At the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires, they reached the semifinals. In the following ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro, they won their biggest title, defeating strong pairs such as Krawietz/Putz, Bolelli/Vavassori and Erler/Miedler in the final.[20][21][22] By doing so, Matos became the first Brazilian in the tournament’s ten-year history to win a trophy, in either singles or doubles.[23]
In July, Matos won his ninth ATP title with Orlando Luz at the 2024 Swedish Open.[24]
2025: Defended Rio title with Melo
Matos began his 2025 season competing in the United Cup, representing Brazil. In the tournament's first tie, Brazil faced China. Matos and Carolina Meligeni Alves teamed up for the mixed doubles match, but they were defeated, contributing to a clean sweep by the Chinese team in that tie.[25][26] Matos and the Brazilians could not defeat China in the United Cup. This kept Brazil in difficult contention for the tournament.[27] The defeats from Meligeni/Matos in mixed doubles and earlier from their teammates Beatriz Haddad Maia and Thiago Monteiro in singles matches complicated Brazil's chances of advancing further in the United Cup.[28] The Brazilian team's struggles continued in the United Cup, as Carolina Meligeni and Rafael Matos were defeated once again in the mixed doubles match during their final tie, this time against Germany. Despite their efforts, the Brazilian team was unable to secure a single victory in the tournament, finishing their campaign without advancing past the group stage.[29][30]
Matos won his tenth title overall and second at his home tournament, the 2025 Rio Open, where he was the defending champion, with compatriot Marcelo Melo. Matos became the fourth man to win multiple Rio doubles titles and the first to successfully defend the title. [31]
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Performance timeline
Current through the 2024 Italian Open.
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Significant finals
Grand Slam tournaments
Mixed doubles: 1 (1 title)
ATP Tour finals
Doubles: 17 (10 titles, 7 runner-ups)
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ATP Challenger and ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour finals
Singles: 9 (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)
Doubles: 20 (11–9)
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National representation
Davis Cup
Matos was first nominated to play for Brazil in Davis Cup in September 2021 against Lebanon in doubles.[32] Matos alongside Marcelo Demoliner made his debut in Davis Cup against Benjamin Hassan and Habib Hady and won in three sets at the third rubber of that tie. Later, the Brazilian team confirmed the 4–0 tie and advanced into the 2022 Davis Cup qualifying round.[33] Currently, Matos sports a 3–0 record in Davis Cup matches. He has played only doubles matches thus far.
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Junior Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
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