Calderano, world ranked number 74, was beaten 3-1 by Rodrigo Gilabert in the Puerto Rican capital.

By that point, however, Brazil were already a point ahead after Eric Jouti overcame Gaston Alto, 3-1.

Jouti then teamed up with Vitor Ishiy to perform superbly and beat Gaston Alto and Pablo Tabachnik, the 2004 Latin American doubles champions.

They lost the first set but were simply too strong after that to run out 3-1 winners.

Ishiy then finished the job by recovering from 2-1 down for a tough five-set victory over Gilabert.

“I won the first and then led 9-4 in the second and lost," reflected the winner afterwards.

“He won the third, it was two-one for him, I felt I was playing well but so was Rodrigo.

“I think he became a little tense, we were 2-1 ahead after winning the doubles so I wasn’t under the same pressure as him; for sure he is fast, whoever made the first attack won the point.”

Brazil also claimed the women's title with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Puerto Rican hosts.

It all came down to a battle between two 15-year-old as Bruna Takahashi beat Adriana Diaz 3-1 in the decisive contest.

Caroline Kumahara had beaten Diaz' elder sister Melanie  3-1 in the opening match to give Brazil the early lead, before her sister Adriana overcame Gui Lin 3-1.

Melanie Diaz and Daniely Rios then combined to beat Kumahara and Takahashi in a thrilling five games doubles duel before Gui Lin levelled proceedings with a 3-0 win over Rios.

Singles action will vbegin in San Juan tomorrow.