“A dream come true” – Guto Miguel downs Kyrgios in Sudden Death, Moutet eliminated, Fonseca debut expected on Friday

UTS Rio presented by XP opened Thursday with four Melee round-robin matches at the Maracanãzinho, headlined by Guto Miguel’s 3-2 upset of Nick Kyrgios and completed by three winning tour debuts by Cameron Norrie, Tallon Griekspoor and Brandon Nakashima, a rough night for former UTS champion Corentin Moutet, and top seed Francisco Cerúndolo, already looking ahead to a World Cup final in New York.

The night’s biggest story belonged to Guto Miguel. The 17-year-old Brazilian, whose ATP ranking sits at 824th, beat former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios 3-2 in quarters (21-12, 15-10, 13-16, 15-21, 2-0 in Sudden Death) in front of his home crowd, for the first big win of his professional career.

Guto Miguel raced through the first two quarters before Kyrgios, at his best with a nine-point run, forced a decider. Guto Miguel closed out the match with a clean sheet in Sudden Death, having pushed Kyrgios into taking on too much risk.

“Nick is a guy I grew up watching play”

Beating his idol felt like fantasy made real: “Nick is a guy I grew up watching play, so it’s very cool”, Guto Miguel said. “Just sharing the court with him is an honor, and people enjoying it, so it was a dream come true.” On the match, he said: “It was a game that I started very well, then he took away my rhythm, I ended up getting a little lost.”

His cheekiest moment came on a winner played from behind his back, after Kyrgios had already pulled off two trick shots of his own: “When I saw him from behind, I said: ‘I have to take advantage of the opportunity.'”

Kyrgios flagged the smallest of margins on the final point: “On that last serve, I thought it was out. It kind of startled me a little bit, but we know that UTS comes down to a couple of points here or there.” He laughed off ending up on the wrong side of his own trademark shot: “I got a taste of my own medicine, but it was a lot of fun.” And he brushed the loss off as barely a dent before challenging Joao Fonseca on Friday on the most expected match of the Melee: “I used today as a bit of a warm-up, you know?”

Guto Miguel was not the only player to win on debut. Brandon Nakashima beat the 2025 UTS Hong Kong champion and seed No.1, Cerúndolo, 3-1 in quarters (13-11, 10-18, 16-15, 12-11), recovering from a heavy second-quarter loss to close out two single-point deciders. “It was a crazy match. First experience for me, put right into it, and it was super fun,” Nakashima said.

Tallon Griekspoor and Cameron Norrie also opened with wins, both at the expense of 2021 UTS 4 champion Corentin Moutet, who is already out of the race for the Final Four.

Griekspoor opened the tournament with a 3-2 win over Moutet (14-11, 13-14, 16-11, 10-15, 3-2 in Sudden Death), a five-quarter thriller that swung through faulted serves on both sides before Griekspoor closed it out with a winner. Cameron Norrie did not let the Frenchman go that far in the closing match of the day, winning 3-1 (14-12, 21-9, 12-14, 16-14) later that evening.

Fonseca’s debut on Friday

For Cerúndolo, the tournament’s top seed, the defeat to Nakashima came with a distraction he made no effort to hide. Argentina reached the World Cup final for a second consecutive tournament on Wednesday, and Cerúndolo has already booked a flight to New York to watch Sunday’s game in the stadium.

“Yesterday was a great day for all the Argentinians – making another World Cup final, it’s amazing,” he said. Asked if football had been on his mind during the match, he admitted in a smile: “Maybe a little bit, you know.”

Norrie and Nakashima sit atop the early standings on quarter and point differential after one win apiece, with Guto Miguel and Griekspoor just behind on a lower quarter differential. Kyrgios and Cerúndolo are both still searching for a first win, while Moutet sits at the bottom, already eliminated. Fonseca, the second seed, has yet to play a match – both of his round-robin ties come on Friday.

Friday brings four more Melee matches, including the tournament debut of second seed and local hero João Fonseca, who plays twice, and an immediate rematch between Thursday’s two winning debutants, Guto Miguel and Nakashima.

Day 1 results:
• Tallon Griekspoor d. Corentin Moutet 3-2 (14-11, 13-14, 16-11, 10-15, 3-2 SD)
• Brandon Nakashima d. Francisco Cerúndolo (1) 3-1 (13-11, 10-18, 16-15, 12-11)
• Guto Miguel d. Nick Kyrgios 3-2 (21-12, 15-10, 13-16, 15-21, 2-0 SD)
• Cameron Norrie d. Corentin Moutet 3-1 (14-12, 21-9, 12-14, 16-14)

Friday’s schedule:
• Guto Miguel v Brandon Nakashima 6:00 pm
• João Fonseca (2) v Tallon Griekspoor 7:00 pm
• Francisco Cerúndolo (1) v Cameron Norrie 8:00 pm
• João Fonseca (2) v Nick Kyrgios 9:00 pm