PORTO/STARNBERG, August 28, 2024
A phone call led to an unlikely partnership that resulted in the only Portuguese victory in the doubles draw of the CT Porto Cup, where Rodrigo Cruz celebrated his debut on the ATP Challenger Tour with a win alongside Francisco Rocha, advancing to the doubles quarterfinals.
The two northern Portuguese players teamed up and triumphed 7-6(7), 7-6(3) against the more experienced Joao Domingues and Frederico Silva in an exciting match on Court 1 at the Clube de Tenis do Porto.
Another week, another @ATPChallenger in Portugal 🙌🏻
From hard courts to clay courts within a month, the 2nd tournament of the year in Porto takes place at the lovely Clube de Ténis do Porto — back on the Challenger calendar for the first time since 1996.
And there will be sun! pic.twitter.com/yftX6SuXur
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) August 24, 2024
Cruz, just 16 years old, was competing in the National Under-18 Championship (where he finished as a finalist) when he received a call from 24-year-old Rocha, inviting him to form the pair that was granted a wild card to participate in the tournament.
In less than a week, the two managed to bridge their recent partnership and marked their debut together— and Cruz’s first match at this level—with an unforgettable victory.
The sets ended similarly, but with different dynamics. The climax occurred at the end of the first set: Cruz and Rocha fought back from a two-break deficit (0-3), saved a set point at 3-5, two more at 5-6, and a fourth in the tiebreak, ultimately winning the decisive tiebreak 9-7 after an hour. In the second set, they again trailed by a break but immediately broke back, and the match remained evenly contested until they closed out the tiebreak with five consecutive points.
Having overcome the first hurdle, the two Portuguese players—the only ones to win in the doubles draw at this CT Porto Cup—set up a quarterfinal clash with the top seeds, Romain Arneodo and Theo Arribage. The Monegasque and French duo opened their campaign with a victory the day before against Pedro Araujo and Diogo Marques, winning 6-0, 7-5.
Wednesday also saw other home favourites in action, but without success: Tiago Pereira and his Bulgarian partner Alexander Donski, the fourth seeds, lost 6-2, 6-4 to Indian Siddhant Banthia and US-American Tennyson Whiting, while Duarte Vale and William Grant from the United States were defeated 6-3, 6-2 by Mats Hermans and Bruno Pujol Navarro.
In the singles draw, No. 6 seed Adrian Andreev from Bulgaria secured a 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier and 2018 Porto Open champion Mate Valkusz. Daniel Cukierman of Israel, who began his campaign with a win over Francisco Rocha in the qualifying and then, in the main draw, defeated Joao Domingues before coming back to beat former Czech youngster Jonas Forejtek 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Carlos Taberner of Spain and Dino Prizmic set up a meeting by winning their respective matches. The Spaniard, a finalist at the 2020 Maia Open, needed two hours to overcome Tunisian qualifier Moez Echargui 6-3, 6-3, while the Croatian was leading 2-0 when Italian Gianluca Mager retired due to a leg injury.
