Texas Tech University Athletics
Guglieri, Vaccari sign with Red Raiders
November 13, 2024 | Men's Tennis
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech has added to its roster for the 2024-25 season as both Porto Alegre, Brazil native Thiago Guglieri and Modena, Italy native Ludovico Vaccari have signed with the Red Raiders announced by head coach Michael Breler on Wednesday afternoon.
Guglieri has put together an impressive junior career, racking up 412 wins in Confederação Brasileira de Tênis (CBT) tournaments, 117 victories in South American tournaments and 47 ITF wins in singles. Boasting a UTR of 12.07, Guglieri was a doubles finalist and a singles quarterfinalist at the J100 Cochabamba in May. A few months before, he advanced out of qualifying singles at the J300 Porto Alegre with victories against Calin Stirbu (ITF #88), Valentin Garay (ITF #127) and Lucas Nakasato, all in straight-sets.
"Thiago will be a big addition to our team this year. He brings a wealth of success as a junior to Texas Tech having reached a ranking among the top-250 juniors in the world and having beaten players in the top 100," Breler said. "What really stood out to me in recruiting Thiago, however, is the kind of person he is. He is a conscientious, high-character individual who I believe will fit in perfectly with the values and standards we have as a program. We see Thiago making a big impact for us in both singles and doubles this spring and are extremely excited to get him on campus in January!"
Between 2022 to now, Guglieri has been a doubles finalist in six ITF junior tournaments and claimed his first ITF doubles trophy at the J5 Criciuma, also known as the Banana Bowl, in 2022 with partner Stephan Noale. Back in April 2023, Guglieri would advance to his first ITF singles final with four-consecutive victories. At J300 Lima, Guglieri picked up two singles wins to advance out of qualifying, before making it to the second round of the tournament with a victory against ITF #93 Boxiong Zhang. Last year, he was the Vacaria Open champion and won a team championship at the 2023 Federations Cup. Most recently in October, Guglieri swept the singles and doubles titles at the J30 Vacaria with nine total victories. He also made it to the singles semifinals of the J100 Londrina tournament.
At just 16 years old, Guglieri won the singles championship and was a doubles finalist at the Inca Bowl G1 South American tournament. In addition, he was a doubles champion and singles finalist in the Brazil Juniors Cup G1 competition and the doubles winner at the South American Banana Bowl. He also was a singles semifinalist in the Roland Garros Junior Wild Card Series.
The Brazil native comes to Lubbock after achieving a No. 2-ranking in South America for 40 weeks in the 16-year-old category (2022), while also winning seven international titles in singles and doubles that season as well as ranking as high as 269 in the ITF rankings.
Also signing with the Red Raiders this year is Vaccari, who was ranked as high as No. 303 in the ITF men's rankings. Competing on the ITF men's circuit recently, Vaccari racked up 12 singles wins since September and advanced to the main draw of a 25k and a 15k. At the Pozzuoli 25k, Vaccari defeated both Patric Prinoth, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 1-0 (6), and Evan Bynoe (career-high ITF #171), 7-5, 6-2, to get to the main draw.
In addition, he picked up three singles wins to qualify for the main draw at the Sharm ElSheikh 15k, then recorded two wins in the main draw. His first win came in round one over Emirhan Bulut, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Then, he overtook Luca Castagnola in the second round, who used to rank No. 1 in the ITF singles rankings two years ago and also holds a career-best ATP #625 ranking, by a score of 7-6 (2), 6-3.
On the junior circuit, Vaccari was a doubles semifinalist at J4 Maribor and a doubles quarterfinalist at J4 Pescara. He would win two doubles titles in 2022 after claiming the trophies at both J4 Kelibia and J5 Bizerte. In singles, he went as far as the quarterfinals at J4 Pescara while making the singles finals at J4 Maribor. In that tournament, he tallied five wins highlighted by victories against Dmitry Suboch (career-high ITF junior ranking of #123) and Lorenzo Comino (career-high ITF junior ranking of #215).
"We are beyond excited to have Ludovico join the Red Raider tennis program this spring! He is another player that we feel embodies the core values that we have set for our program," Breler said. "He's a hard worker with strong character and has a very high ceiling to his game. He was one of the top juniors in Italy in his age group and has competed extensively in pro tournaments these last couple of years getting some big-time wins and results. We expect him to contribute in a big way for the Red Raiders both on and off the court and I can't wait to start working with him in January!"
Both Guglieri and Vaccari are expected to join the Red Raiders this January to start the spring dual season.
     
