Giuseppe "Beppe" Merlo (11 October 1927 – 17 July 2019) was an Italian tennis player. Merlo reached the semifinals of

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

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 Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957, beating Ashley Cooper and Herbert Flam. Career Davidson also rea ...

) and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

(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 , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1955, Merlo led 2 sets to 1 and had 2 match points against

Fausto Gardini Fausto Gardini (8 March 1930 – 17 September 2008) was an Italian tennis player. He was an Italian Davis Cup player and later captain. Gardini had long arms and legs, was renowned for keeping the ball in play and was very determined. "I could n ...

, 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 a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion. Biography Born 11 September 1933, in ...

). 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.

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* * * 1927 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Merano Italian male tennis players 20th-century Italian people {{Italy-tennis-bio-stub