Maria Esther Bueno Cup
The Maria Esther Bueno Cup, popularly known as the MEB Cup for short, was a men's tennis competition exclusively for Brazilian players aged up to 24 years old. The tournament was played only in the singles category, with no doubles draw. The champion of the competition received a wildcard entry into the main singles draw of the Rio Open, while the runner-up secured a spot in the tournament's qualifying round. Both the champion and the runner-up received a trophy after the final match.
The tournament was not part of the Association of Tennis Professionals or the International Tennis Federation calendars and, therefore, did not awarded ranking points from these organizations to its participants.
Despite being a men's tournament, it was named in honor of former Brazilian tennis player Maria Esther Bueno.
Venues
In its first two editions, in 2018 and 2019, and later in its fourth and final edition in 2023, the tournament was held at the Sociedade Harmonia de Tênis club in São Paulo.The 2022 edition took place at the Rio de Janeiro Country Club in Rio de Janeiro.
Qualification
Players qualified for the tournament based on the following criteria:• 8 players aged up to 24 years
• 6 players based on the ATP ranking
• 1 player based on the ITF Junior ranking
• 1 wildcard
Competition format
The last MEB Cup format consisted of two groups of four players each. Matches within each group were played in a round-robin format, meaning all players faced each other within their respective groups.All matches were played in a best-of-three sets format, with the third set being a Match Tiebreak.
Participants by edition
20181. Orlando Luz
2. Rafael Matos
3. Thiago Wild
4. Felipe Meligeni Alves
5. João Lucas Reis
6. Fernando Yamacita
7. Gilbert Klier
8. Lucas Koelle
2019
1. Thiago Wild
2. Orlando Luz
3. Felipe Meligeni Alves
4. Rafael Matos
5. Gilbert Klier
6. João Lucas Reis
7. Matheus Pucinelli
8. Lucas Koelle
2022
1. João Lucas Reis
2. Pedro Boscardin Dias
3. Thiago Wild
4. Gustavo Heide
5. Mateus Alves
6. Eduardo Ribeiro
7. João Fonseca
8. Gustavo Almeida
2023
1. Gustavo Heide
2. João Lucas Reis
3. Matheus Pucinelli
4. Mateus Alves
5. Gilbert Klier
6. Igor Gimenez
7. Nicolas Oliveira
8. Henrique Nogueira