The Loulé Ladies Open by Cimpor kicked off on the afternoon of Monday, October 23rd, with three Portuguese victories.
The inaugural day began with a special victory: participating for the first time in a world tour tournament at the age of 15, Iara Guerreiro Gonçalves defeated Britain's India Rojano, 12 years older, 7-5 and 6-3.
The Loulé Tennis Club player was the only Portuguese tennis player to have played in the first round and was up to the challenge, but admitted that the unprecedented participation in a competition of this caliber made her nervous.
«I felt a mix of emotions because I was very anxious. Either because it was my first professional encounter, or because of an injury that forced me to stop for a few months. I started with a lot of nervousness and was losing 5-2, but I knew I could win that match, I didn't give up and I ended up turning the game around. Then I started well in the second set and it was great to be able to win playing at home", he said about the experience he had on the eve of a 10th grade Mathematics test.
The delay caused by rain meant that Iara Guerreiro Gonçalves had to face a double journey and in the second challenge the young Algarve woman conceded 6-0 and 6-1 against another British woman, Matilda Mutavdzic, 19 years old and world number 845.
The other two Portuguese victories of the day were signed by Angelina Voloshchuk and Carolina Mesquita, who thus scheduled a meeting in the round to access the main table.
Voloshchuk, just 16 years old and already in 799th place in the WTA rankings, returned to the tournament where a year ago he came very close to following up his debut in the main singles tables with his first victory (he only lost in the tie-breaker of the third set) and scored an authoritative 6-0, 6-2 victory over the German Sophia Ksandinov, of the same age.
Before the current under 16 national champion, the under 18 national runner-up had moved on: Mesquita, who a week ago entered the WTA ranking for the first time (she is 1367th), passed the Brazilian Giulia Pereira de Aguiar with partials of 6-2 and 6-2.
In addition to the face-to-face between the two young Portuguese women, the final round of qualifying This Loulé Ladies Open by Cimpor will feature two other national representatives: Carla Tomai and Inês Murta.
Tomai had a date scheduled with the Slovakian Nina Vargova (689th), but a withdrawal meant that the first seed took that place in the main singles table and, thus, received a bye in the second round to set up a meeting with the British. Summer Yardley.
Murta, on the other hand, benefited from the departure of compatriot Catarina Moreira, who, like Inês Esteves and Maria Beatriz Teixeira, was removed for being registered in two tournaments simultaneously.
Returning after a six-month absence due to injuries, the Algarve native (currently 863rd WTA and former 546th) will discuss qualification with Nicole Gadient (1259th). The Swiss were responsible for the elimination of Teresa Franco Dias by winning 6-4 and 6-1.
This Monday's journey was close to recording two more Portuguese victories, but the under 18 national champion, Maria Garcia (1319th), suffered a turnaround and lost 4-6, 6-3 and 10-5 with the Danish Sara Borkop, while Sara Lance (1056th) conceded 7-5 and 7-5 to Israeli Sofia Snitko in the duel that ended the action at around 22pm.
The duel between Angelina Voloshchuk and Carolina Mesquita will not be the only 100% Portuguese match to mark Tuesday's day (starting at 10 am), as the main draw dictated a face-to-face match between Matilde Jorge and Elizabet Hamaliy.
The Guimarães native (551st WTA and the only one with direct entry) and the Portuguese-Ukrainian (currently unranked) are training colleagues at the High Performance Center of the Portuguese Tennis Federation and have already met forces on one occasion, with the more experienced next ahead in the ITF of 25.000 dollars from Santarém in September 2022.
Algarve's Amália Suciu will face the Latvian Diana Marcinkevica (373rd), seventh seed, while Ana Filipa Santos (formerly 832nd) will only meet her first opponent with the conclusion of the qualifying matches.
This is the third edition of the $25.000 international tournament that the Clube de Ténis de Loulé organizes, between October 22nd and 29th, with the support of the Loulé City Council and the Portuguese Tennis Federation.
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