The best placement of a Brazilian athlete in a WTA Finals tournament in history has already been defined. This Saturday (8), the partnership formed by Luisa Stefani and the Hungarian Timea Babos ended up defeated by 2 sets to 0, with partial scores of 7/6 (4) and 6/1, by the duo formed by the Belgian Elise Mertens and the Russian Veronika Kudermetova, in the decision of the competition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The runner-up is the best result for a Brazilian woman in the tournament that brings together the best tennis players of the season. In the men’s version, the ATP Finals, Brazil has a singles title with Gustavo Kuerten, in 2000 and two runners-up with Marcelo Melo in the doubles bracket, in 2014 and 2017.
With the result, Stefani will end the season in 14th place in the WTA (Women’s World Tennis Association) doubles rankings. The Brazilian’s best place in history was in 2021, when she came to ninth place. That year, she won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, together with Laura Pigossi.
This was the first season of the partnership between Stefani and Babos. In February, they were champions of the WTA 500 in Linz, Austria. There were three other titles: at the WTA 500 in Strasbourg, France, at the SP Open and at the WTA 500 in Tokyo.
