Giuseppe "Beppe" Merlo (11 October 1927 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian tennis player.
Merlo reached the semifinals of
French Championships
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...
in
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
(losing to
Sven Davidson
Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Sweden, Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957 French Championships – Men's singles ...
) and
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
(losing to
Lew Hoad
Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...
). In the final of
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in 1955, Merlo led 2 sets to 1 and had 2 match points against
Fausto Gardini, but minutes later had to retire with cramps. Merlo lost in the Italian Open final again in 1957 (to
Nicola Pietrangeli
Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (; born 11 September 1933) is an Italian former tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be one of Italy's greatest tennis champions.
Biography
Nicola Chirinsky ...
).
His other career highlights include winning the
Reggio Calabria International tournament four times (1959–60, 1963, 1967)
He retired from competitive tennis in 1969 when he was 41 years old. He was 91 at the time of his death in July 2019.
References
External links
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1927 births
2019 deaths
Sportspeople from Merano
Italian male tennis players
20th-century Italian sportsmen
{{Italy-tennis-bio-stub