Luisa Stefani, from São Paulo, Brazil’s best doubles player in the world rankings, achieved an unprecedented feat for women’s tennis in the country, this Friday (7), by guaranteeing a place in the final of the WTA Finals, a tournament held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which brings together the best of the season.
In partnership with Hungarian Timea Babos, the Brazilian beat the pair formed by Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and Taiwanese Hsieh Su-Wei by two sets to zero, with partials of 6/4 and 7/6 (5).
Brazil had already participated in the tournament with Bia Haddad Maia, in 2022, alongside Kazakh Anna Danilina. The duo ended up eliminated in the group stage.
In the final, scheduled for this Saturday (8), at 10 am (Brasília time), Luisa, 16th in the ranking, and Timea, 15th, will face the winners of the clash between the pair formed by the Czech Katerina Siniakova (1st) and the American Taylor Townsend (2nd), against the Belgian Elise Mertens (7th) and the Russian Veronika Kudermetova (10th). The decision will be broadcast on the Disney+ streaming platform.
Luisa and Timea have already won four titles in the current season — the WTA 500 in Linz, Austria, Tokyo, Japan, and Strasbourg, France, in addition to the WTA 250 in São Paulo.
Bronze medalist at the Tokyo Games in 2021, alongside Laura Pigossi, Luisa makes her debut at the WTA Finals this year. Timea is a three-time champion, holding the titles between 2017 and 2019.
At 28 years old, the Brazilian has 14 titles in her career. She was also champion of the Australian Open in mixed doubles alongside Rafael Matos, in 2023.
