The morning and early afternoon of this Saturday (25th) were historic for Brazilian tennis, with two athletes reaching important finals on the world circuit. João Fonseca from Rio de Janeiro qualified for the title fight at the ATP 500 in Basel, Switzerland, while Luísa Stefani from São Paulo qualified for the final at the WTA 500 in Tokyo, Japan.
The level 500 tournaments, which award 500 points to the champions, are the third highest level on the circuit, both male and female, behind only the level 1000 competitions and the Grand Slams (which award two thousand points to the winner). It is the first time that João has reached the final of an ATP 500. Luísa, in turn, will face the third decision of a WTA 500 this year alone, after titles in Linz, Austria, and Strasbourg, France, always with the Hungarian Timea Babos, with whom she also won the SP Open (WTA 250 in São Paulo).
Number 46 in the singles ranking of the Association of Professional Tennis Players (ATP), João faced the Spaniard Jaume Munar (42nd) in the semi-final of the tournament in Basel and won by 2 sets to 0, splits of 7/6 (7-4) and 7/5. In the final this Sunday (26th), starting at 11am (Brasília time), he will face another tennis player from Spain, Alejandro Fokina (18th). The Rio native, just 19 years old, will be among the 30 best in the world in the next update of the list if he wins.
Luísa, who occupies 17th place in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) doubles ranking, and Babos (16th) secured themselves in the Tokyo decision by defeating North American Taylor Townsend, number two in the world, and Australian Ellen Perez (23rd) by 2 sets to 1, splits of 6/7 (4-7), 6/3 and 10-5 in the match tie-break (tiebreaker in which the partnership that reaches ten points first wins). The rivals were the main favorites for the title.
The São Paulo native and the Hungarian return to the court in the Japanese capital in the early hours of this Sunday, around 1:30 am (Brasília time), to decide the title against the Serbian Aleksandra Krunic (20th) and the Kazakh Anna Danilina (13th). The competition is the last before Luísa and Babos compete in the WTA Finals in November, a tournament that will bring together the eight best couples of the season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
