The Vila Real de Santo António International Tennis Open again crowning a Portuguese champion, a year after Jaime Faria’s triumph and a week after Frederico Ferreira Silva erected the trophy. This time, it was Gastão Elias who shone, overcoming the British Ryan Peniston (440 of the ATP ranking) in the final, with an blameless display that translated into the partials of 6-2, 6-1.
To reach the final, Elias had to overcome his compatriot and friend Frederico Ferreira Silva (288th), at a half-final meeting that lasted until the third set. The clash, interrupted the day before when the marker recorded 5-5 in the second partial, was resumed on the morning of the last day of competition, with Elias to impose himself 6-7 (2/7), 7-5 and 6-1 .
“An excellent week, I couldn’t have finished better, with several complicated games, with many days without feeling playing my best tennis, but the good weeks are anyway. I tried to get solutions and ended up playing the best on the last day, which was the most important. I played an excellent third set with Fred in the morning and two excellent sets in the afternoon, ”said Gastão Elias
The wear and tear accumulated throughout the week did not go unnoticed by Elijah, who revealed some difficulties in recovery between the semi-final and the final. “I was very upset, I had the opportunity to close the second set, when I served 5-4, I felt very tired, frustrated, hard to fall asleep after a very intense day, we left at seven in the afternoon and soon, at 10 am in the morning Next, I had to start carburing. Happy to be able to make a reset and I ended up having one of the most consistent days of these two weeks, ”confessed the 34 -year -old tennis player.
“I played the final in the same record with which I ended up the semi-final, it was the day I felt the ball better, I made a few unprecedented errors since the semi-final, I was worried and with some doubts about whether I could return to mine Registration, but I kept the consistency. At one point, I felt that he had no answer to my game and desperate for not giving him any opening and when I saw him out of his game plan, I grew up even more, played better and it was a day worthy of winning a trophy. ” , he added.
After receiving the trophy from the mayor of Vila Real de Santo António, Álvaro Araújo, Elias added his 17th title in the professional circuit, the first since 2022. However, the Lourinhã tennis player proved cautiously when to your participation in the next tournament.
“I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, I have a few ills, I will see how to recover, obviously I would like to enjoy all the tournaments that are held in Portugal, but I am no longer 18 and I have to be smart to choose well where I will compete.” , said the Lourinhã tennis player.
As for the coming months, Elijah’s goals are clear: “Enter Roland-Garros qualifying and play Challengers as soon as possible, which I could do tomorrow, but with my ranking would always have to play in Qualifying and not being head -Hery would have very hard meetings to earn few points and little money. I will try to climb a little more in the ranking to enter directly, ”he said
The 6th International Open of Tennis of Vila Real de Santo António is organized by the Local Tennis Club (), with the support of the City Council (CMVRSA) and the Portuguese Tennis Federation (FPT), and distributes 30 thousand dollars (about 29,000 euros) in monetary awards.
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