Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) – Fourth best Brazilian in the ATP rankings, Daniel Dutra da Silva will compete this week in the challenger of Santo Domingo, on clay in the Dominican Republic. The tournament awards a prize pool of $159,360, with 125 ranking points for the champion.

The experienced 34-year-old player from São Paulo and 211th in the world has the best ranking of his career and makes his debut against the Argentine top seed Federico Delbonis, former top 40 and currently 133rd in the world at 31 years old. The confrontation between them is unprecedented on the professional circuit.

Danielzinho has already won 13 games in the main challenger bracket this season and reached two semi-finals. If he manages to overcome his debut in Santo Domingo, he will score an important 11 ATP points and will certainly face another Argentinian, from the match between Francisco Comesana and Marco Trungelliti. The quadrant still includes the Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, main seed and 78th in the world.

Another Brazilian in contention in Santo Domingo is Pedro Boscardin Dias, from Santa Catarina, 19 and 296th in the standings. He made his debut against Colombian Alejandro Hoyos, only 838th. If he wins, he will face Serbian Pedja Krstin or American James Tracy for a place in the main draw.

Wild plays quality in Poland
The sharp drop in the rankings forces Paraná’s Thiago Wild to enter another challenger-level qualifier. The now ranked No. 367 entered the previews for the Polish hard-court tournament, which has a prize pool of US$68,000.

His opponent this Sunday will be the Bolivian Federico Zeballos, 724th in the world at 34 years old. As the 4th seed, Wild could decide the place against Canadian Steven Diez or Uzbek Sanjar Fayziev.