Brazilian wild card Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva thrilled her home fans on Day 1 of the Sao Paulo Open by becoming the first 2010-born player to win a WTA main-draw match, defeating compatriot Carolina Alves 6-7(0), 6-2, 6-0 in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

Sao Paulo: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The first Hologic WTA Tour event to be held in Brazil since 2000 was an apt venue for the 15-year-old’s milestone victory. She told the on-court interviewer after her win that she had grown up playing on the same courts at the Villa-Lobos State Park, where the tournament is held in the city’s Alto de Pinheiros district.

Ranked No. 1,206, Leme Da Silva is contesting just her seventh professional event. She became the first 2010-born player to gain a WTA ranking last September, and is guaranteed to rise into the Top 1,000 next week. Leme Da Silva — known to fans by her nickname of Nana — is also ranked No. 37 in juniors, and made the third round of the Wimbledon girls’ event this year.

Leme Da Silva’s match against No. 237-ranked Alves was the first all-Brazilian clash at tour level since Teliana Pereira defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round of Miami 2016. The teenager showed off her talent early on, particularly with deft drop shots and a ferocious forehand, and saved the first two set points against her as she forced a tiebreak from 5-3 down. Once there, though, Alves’s experience was decisive as the 29-year-old ran off the last nine points of the set.

Leme Da Silva’s response was emphatic. From 2-1 down in the second set, she did not lose another game, rattling off 11 in a row to notch her first win over a Top 300 player. She will face a Top 100 player for the first time in the second round — Argentinian No. 2 seed Solana Sierra, who came through 7-6(4), 6-3 over Arianne Hartono.

Another 15-year-old Brazilian wild card, Victoria Luiza Barros, also impressed on her WTA debut, leading No. 136-ranked Whitney Osuigwe 4-1 in the second set before falling 6-3, 6-4. Just four months older than Leme Da Silva, Barros is the junior No. 19 and contesting her fifth professional tournament. The teenage pair will also team up in the doubles event, where they will face Anna Rogers and Janice Tjen in the first round.

Elsewhere, Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah delivered one of the most remarkable comebacks of the year, overturning a 5-0 third-set deficit to defeat Ana Sofia Sánchez 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) in 2 hours and 54 minutes. The 19-year-old Frenchwoman led by a set and 3-1, only to lose 10 of the next 11 games. However, a series of flashy forehand winners enabled her to pull off her Houdini act, saving three match points — one trailing 5-1 and two more down 5-4 — along the way.