An historic victory for Joao Sousa who became the first Portuguese player to win an ATP tournament on home soil. He dispatched Frances Tiafoe 6-4 6-4 to claim his third career title, his first on clay.
“It’s just amazing. It’s a dream come true. It is very special for a Portuguese player to win here on home soil. I know how hard the organisation worked to make this tournament one of the best in the world and it’s just amazing. The crowd was unbelievable.”
Local hero Sousa was made to work all week as he had to save 2 match points against Pedro Sousa in the second round and survived 3-set marathons against third seed Kyle Edmund in the quarterfinals and recent Barcelona finalist Stefano Tsitsipas in the semis.
It was also a good week for Tiafoe, who reached his second final this year after a straight sets victory over defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta in the semifinals.
“I didn’t feel great today. I just got outplayed. I left a lot of balls short and didn’t play near as well as I was playing this week. He took advantage and was able to play how he wanted to. It was tough. I couldn’t get anything going.”
Joao Sousa and Frances Tiafoe booked their spot in the final after upsetting recent Barcelona finalist Stefano Tsitsipas and defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta.
Sousa defeats Tsitsipas 6-4 1-6 7-6
A rollercoaster of a match for Joao Sousa, who is now one win from becoming the first Portuguese player to win the tournament. A break of serve was enough to capture the first set, but the young Greek rallied back to level the match at one set all. The world number 68 who had never won a match in his 3 previous visits here prevailed in the tie-break 7-4.
Tiafoe defeats Carreno Busta 6-2 6-3
Tiafoe had to save 3 match points in the first round against Tennys Sandgren but since then he turned things around, and defeated Gilles Muller, Simone Bolelli in straight sets. He broke in the opening game of in his semifinal against the defending champion and never looked back, and secured his place in the final.
Tiafoe had some good results so far this year, with his maiden title in Delrey Beach and semifinals in Miami and Barcelona.
Photo credit: MNJ, all rights reserved to MNJ.
