Francisca Jorge and Matilde Jorge were runners-up this Saturday at the first women's Loulé Open, an international $25.000 tournament organized by the Loulé Tennis Club, which ends this Sunday with the singles final between Harmony Tan and Ellen Perez, The 11 hours.
Playing for the first time in a final on the ITF circuit as a duo, the two sisters from Guimarães were unable to counter the favoritism of Greek Despina Papamichail and Serbian Natalija Stevanovic, second seeded, who won 6-2 and 7-5 in 1h23.
“We've been playing together for the last few weeks and we've clearly grown as a team. We are adapting better and better to our opponents and we have shown a very high level and have done very good and even beautiful things”, said Francisca Jorge, the eldest (21 years old) of the two sisters. “Today we got a little more nervous, maybe because it was a final, and they practically didn't fail at the beginning, which made it difficult to accept that it was going to be tough, but after we were losing 6-2 and 5-1 we let go, we tried to enjoy the game and almost equaled the final, but it ended up falling to the other side”.
“In Lagos, we'll also play together and we'll try to make another final or, who knows, try to win. Looking to the future, I think we make a good team, being sisters we complement each other well because we know the weaknesses and strengths of each one, which helps us a lot to push each other at the right times”, added Matilde Jorge (17 years old).
In the singles table, Harmony Tan (119th in the WTA ranking) and Ellen Perez (236th) met in the singles final, scheduled for 11 am on Sunday.
The French defeated compatriot Chloe Paquet (171st) 6-2 6-2 in 1:31, to confirm the status of first seed and put herself one step closer to winning her eighth career title and second of the year , after winning the $60.000 ITF from Andrezieux-Boutheon (France).
The Australian, who is coached by former Portuguese number one Maria João Koehler, overcame Belarusian Anna Kubareva (318th) by 6-2 and 6-4 in 1h15, thanks to a very authoritarian display that kept her on track of the third title in his career and first since 2019.
In common, Harmony Tan and Ellen Perez have the fact that at the Loulé Open they are preparing to play the second final of 2021 in Portugal: the French finished runner-up in the ITF of 60.000 dollars + H in Caldas da Rainha, while the Australian was runner-up at the $25.000 Lisbon ITF (São Domingos de Benfica).
This Sunday, the qualifying of the men's Loulé Open is scheduled to start, which will take place for the 11th consecutive year on the courts of the Clube de Ténis de Loulé. Like the women's event, this tournament will also feature $25.000 in prize money.
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