Ricardo Mello

Ricardo Mello (born 21 December 1980) is a Brazilian retired tennis player. His preference is for clay courts. He has had the occasional win in hard court tournaments. His best singles rank was No. 50 in 2005. He won one singles tournament (Delray Beach in 2004) and reached the semifinals three times at the Brasil Open. He played most of his tennis in Challenger tournaments, where he won 15 singles titles and three doubles titles.

Ricardo Mello

Country (sports)	Brazil
Residence	Campinas, Brazil
Born	(1980-12-21) 21 December 1980 (age 44) Campinas, Brazil
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1999
Retired	2013
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,484,044
Singles
Career record	60–94 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 50 (25 July 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2005, 2012)
French Open	1R (2004, 2005, 2010, 2011)
Wimbledon	2R (2011)
US Open	3R (2004)
Doubles
Career record	11–25 (at ATP Tour-level, Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 118 (11 July 2005)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2012)
French Open	2R (2005)
Wimbledon	1R (2005, 2011)

Career

Early days

Ricardo was born in Campinas, Brazil and started to play tennis at the age of three. At 15, he drew a wild card into a tournament in his hometown. He lost to veteran and French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten. However, he gained his first ATP career points. In 1999, Ricardo won his first Futures events in Uruguay and Paraguay.

2004

Mello won his lone ATP title at Delray Beach, defeating Vincent Spadea in the final. One of his first major feats was qualifying for the main singles draw in the Australian Open that year, his first participation in a Grand Slam tournament; he lost to #8 seed David Nalbandian in the first round.

2006

At the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships, Mello played top seed Andy Murray. Murray was in control of the first set, winning 6–1, but Mello won the second set 6–1. Mello took the third and final to a tiebreak, after having three match points. He lost in the tiebreak 5–7.

At the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, Mello faced Jean-René Lisnard in the first round and won in straight sets. In the second round, he faced 14th seed Vincent Spadea and lost.

Sponsorship

The sponsor for his clothes, shoes and racquets was Babolat.

ATP Tour Career Finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) ATP World Tour 250 Series (1–0)

Finals by surface Hard (1–0) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0)

Finals by setting Outdoor (1–0) Indoor (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 2004	Delray Beach, United States	250 Series	Hard	Vincent Spadea	7–6(7–2), 6–3

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 30 (21–9)

Legend ATP Challenger (15–8) ITF Futures (6–1)

Finals by surface Hard (14–7) Clay (7–2) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1999	Uruguay F2, Jose-Ignacio	Futures	Clay	Marcos Daniel	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Win	2–0	Oct 1999	Paraguay F3, Asunción	Futures	Clay	Gergely Kisgyörgy	7–5, 6–1
Win	3–0	Jun 2000	Mexico F3, Merida	Futures	Hard	Ignacio Hirigoyen	6–4, 1–6, 6–4
Win	4–0	Sep 2000	Brazil F1, Vitoria	Futures	Clay	Júlio Silva	6–4, 6–3
Loss	4–1	Feb 2001	USA F4, Corpus Christi	Futures	Hard	Damien Roberts	4–6, 2–6
Win	5–1	Apr 2001	Brazil F2, Teresopolis	Futures	Clay	Rodrigo Cerdera	6–2, 6–4
Win	6–1	May 2001	USA F11, Vero Beach	Futures	Clay	Thomas Dupre	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win	7–1	Jul 2001	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	7–6(8–6), 4–6, 7–6(7–5)
Loss	7–2	Dec 2001	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Kristian Pless	1–6, 1–6
Loss	7–3	Mar 2002	Salinas, Ecuador	Challenger	Hard	Iván Miranda	3–6, 4–6
Win	8–3	Jul 2002	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Maximilian Abel	7–6(7–2), 6–3
Win	9–3	Aug 2002	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	6–3, 6–3
Loss	9–4	Oct 2003	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Giovanni Lapentti	3–6, 7–6(10–8), 3–6
Win	10–4	Nov 2003	Puebla, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Markus Hantschk	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss	10–5	Aug 2004	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Janko Tipsarević	4–6, 7–5, 4–6
Win	11–5	Aug 2004	Gramado, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Janko Tipsarević	2–6, 7–5, 6–4
Win	12–5	Jan 2005	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Giovanni Lapentti	4–6, 6–2, 7–6(7–0)
Win	13–5	Apr 2006	Florianópolis, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Diego Junqueira	6–3, 5–7, 7–6(7–4)
Win	14–5	Jul 2006	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Ivo Klec	6–3, 6–4
Loss	14–6	Mar 2008	Leon, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Bruno Echagaray	0–6, 6–3, 6–7(6–8)
Loss	14–7	Jul 2008	Manta, Ecuador	Challenger	Hard	Giovanni Lapentti	2–6, 4–6
Win	15–7	Jan 2009	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Paul Capdeville	6–2, 6–4
Win	16–7	Aug 2009	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Juan Ignacio Chela	7–6(7–2), 6–4
Win	17–7	Jan 2010	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Eduardo Schwank	6–3, 6–1
Loss	17–8	Apr 2010	Curitiba, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Dominik Meffert	4–6, 7–6(7–3), 2–6
Loss	17–9	Aug 2010	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Izak van der Merwe	6–7(6–8), 3–6
Win	18–9	Aug 2010	Salvador, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Thiago Alves	5–7, 6–4, 6–4
Win	19–9	Jan 2011	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Rafael Camilo	6–2, 6–1
Win	20–9	Oct 2011	Recife, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Rogério Dutra Silva	7–6(7–5), 6–3
Win	21–9	Oct 2011	São José do Rio Preto, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Eduardo Schwank	6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 16 (3–13)

Legend ATP Challenger (3–12) ITF Futures (0–1)

Finals by surface Hard (1–6) Clay (2–7) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2001	Brazil F3, São Paulo	Futures	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Diego Veronelli Adriano Ferreira	3–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Jul 2001	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Ricardo Schlachter	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	7–6(8–6), 6–7(5–7), 5–7
Loss	0–3	Sep 2001	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Adriano Ferreira Edgardo Massa	walkover
Loss	0–4	Jun 2002	Andorra Challenger, Andorra	Challenger	Hard	Hermes Gamonal	Shaun Rudman Wesley Moodie	2–6, 1–6
Loss	0–5	Jun 2003	Andorra Challenger, Andorra	Challenger	Hard	Alexandre Simoni	Rik de Voest Tuomas Ketola	4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win	1–5	Oct 2003	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Alexandre Simoni	Ricardo Schlachter Hugo Armando	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–6	Jul 2004	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Henrique Mello	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	4–6, 4–6
Win	2–6	Jul 2004	Campos do Jordão, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Iván Miranda	Alejandro Hernández André Sá	6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–7	Jul 2005	Biella, Italy	Challenger	Clay	Carlos Berlocq	Tom Vanhoudt Gabriel Trifu	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	2–8	May 2006	Tunica Resorts, United States	Challenger	Clay	Hugo Armando	Jeff Morrison Bobby Reynolds	6–3, 6–7)5-7), [9–11]
Loss	2–9	Oct 2007	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Hugo Armando	Brian Dabul Marcos Daniel	6–4, 5–7, [7–10]
Loss	2–10	Sep 2008	Quito, Ecuador	Challenger	Clay	Caio Zampieri	Leonardo Mayer Hugo Armando	5–7, 2–6
Loss	2–11	Jul 2009	Bogotá, Colombia	Challenger	Clay	Marcos Daniel	Sebastián Prieto Horacio Zeballos	4–6, 5–7
Loss	2–12	Aug 2009	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Caio Zampieri	Rodrigo Guidolin Marcelo Demoliner	4–6, 2–6
Win	3–12	Nov 2001	São Paulo, Brazil	Challenger	Clay	Franco Ferreiro	Diego Junqueira David Marrero	6–3, 6–3
Loss	3–13	Aug 2010	Brasília, Brazil	Challenger	Hard	Caio Zampieri	Franco Ferreiro André Sá	6–7(5–7), 3–6

Grand Slam performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	SR	W–L	Win %
Australian Open	A	A	Q2	1R	2R	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	0 / 5	2–5	29%
French Open	A	Q2	Q1	1R	1R	Q1	Q1	A	Q1	1R	1R	A	0 / 4	0–4	0%
Wimbledon	A	Q2	Q2	Q1	1R	A	Q2	Q2	Q1	1R	2R	A	0 / 3	1–3	25%
US Open	Q3	Q2	Q3	3R	2R	Q2	Q1	Q1	Q3	2R	1R	1R	0 / 5	4–5	44%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–3	2–4	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–3	1–4	1–2	0 / 17	7–17	29%
Year-end ranking	133	144	128	71	111	134	257	198	151	76	85	286
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	Q1	1R	A	A	A	Q2	2R	2R	Q1	0 / 3	2–3	40%
Miami Open	A	Q1	Q1	2R	2R	Q2	2R	A	1R	1R	1R	Q1	0 / 6	3–6	33%
Madrid	A	A	A	Q1	Q1	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Toronto/Montreal	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–4	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	0 / 11	6–11	35%

External links

• Ricardo Mello at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Ricardo Mello at the International Tennis Federation
• Ricardo Mello at the Davis Cup