ROCK HILL, SC--Former Winthrop men's tennis standout Clayton Almeida earned his first professional career win as he and his doubles partner, Joshua Zavala, captured the Brazil F39, an ATP World Tour event.
Almeida and Zavala made their way to the championship match as the #4 seed as the duo defeated the #3 seed (Joao Pedro Sorgi/Gabriel Vicentini Pereira) 6-7, 7-6, 12-10. Sorgi is ranked 8^th in the world in juniors.
“Overall it was a great tournament,” said Almeida, who was at four-time Big South Conference Player of the Year.” Josh and I played really well all three matches, and the final was just a battle decided by few key points. This was my third final in doubles, and I did feel a bit nervous when we started the super tie break, but in the end, we pulled two great points together to win."

Almeida and Zavala opened up with a bye and earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alex Blumenberg and Pedro Sakamoto. They reached the final with a 6-0, 6-0 win over the #2 seed (Gabriel Dias/Caio Silva).
"It is a great feeling to win a professional tournament at age 30 (almost 31), especially when competing against two 18 year olds,” said Almeida. “The game is much more different from the time I graduated in college, it is a faster paced game, kids are stronger now at 16-18, but the beauty of doubles is that, it is a very specific game. My serve and volleys are still the same from college, and that's the basic strategy for doubles, so that's why I still feel comfortable when competing against these kids."

Since his career as a doubles player began in 2010, Almeida has 24 career victories. This is the third event that Almeida and Zavala have teamed up and the second time they've reached a final of a tournament. In their first tournament that took place in Tampa, FL in May, the two lost 7-6, 6-4 in the finals. One of the members of the doubles team they lost to was Australian Ashley Fisher, who has reached as high as 19^th in the world in doubles. Fisher made the fourth round of the French Open in doubles the following week.
With the victory, Almeida jumped 382 spots in the rankings to 949. Almeida and Zavala just lost in the semi-finals of their most recent tournament, which then jumped Almeida another 100 spots to 850. The two are expected to play in two more tournaments in 2011, but no scheduled events in 2012 yet. “I'm not sure about my schedule for next year, but I plan to play some bigger tournaments such as Challengers and hopefully some ATP Tours.
Clayton is grateful for the opportunity to be playing professional tennis. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't the support of some people that encouraged me to go back and play after four years without competing. I have to thank my family for always believing in me, and of course I want to thank Cid Carvalho and Winthrop that gave me a chance to arrive here in 2002 and develop not only as a tennis player but also as an individual. Cid, in my opinion, was/is the best coach I ever worked with and I am very proud that I had a chance to be part of his program."