He and fellow Brazilian Fernando Magalhaes were among eight teams to reach the main draw in the specially built arena at Meia Praia in the coastal city.

They were forced to battle hard, however, recovering from a second-set slip to defeat Switzerland's Simon Hagenbuch and Quentin Metral, 21-19, 13-21, 15-13.

"To be able to celebrate your birthday and advance to the main draw in the same day is amazing," Ferreira said after the win on home sand. 

"Fernando and I deserved it. 

"I'm thrilled to be here and to win such an important match on my birthday. 

"The tournament will be tough as there are several teams we don't know well, but the atmosphere is fantastic and we want more."

Other pairs to advance included Norway's Mathias Bernsten and Hendrik Mol, Uruguay's Marco Cairus and Mauricio Vyeto, Lithuania's Lukas Kazdailis and Arnas Rumsevicius and Austria's Simon Fruhbauer and Jorg Wutzl.

Three German pairs completed the qualifiers in Phillipp Bergmann and Yannick Harms, Lorenz Schumann and Nils Ehlers and Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler.

Switzerland's Nicole Eiholzer and Elena Steinemann produced the biggest surprise in the women's qualifying draw by ousting Brazilian veterans Maria Clara Salgado and Elize Maia Secomandi.

The Europeans dominated from the outset to win 21-17, 21-18. 

"We came to this match knowing that we needed to work hard and play our game," Eiholzer said.

"We had to be calm, be careful with our sets and use all of our power. 

"We enjoyed playing here and things were just flowing for us. 

"In the main draw, we'll try to bring our best game and all our passion and hopefully things go our way again."

Swiss team-mates Laura Calluori and Dunja Gerson also progressed with a hard-fought 18-21, 21-17, 15-8 win against Japanese duo Azusa Futami and Akiko Hasegawa.

Others to qualify were The Netherlands' Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink, Slovakia's Natalia Dubovcova and Andrea Strbova, Brazil's Lili Maestrini and Josi Alves, Argentina's Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra and two United States pairs in Emily Day and Betsi Flint and Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman.

Main draw action will begin tomorrow.