Sousa To Meet Munar For Lisboa Belem Open Title

LISBON, October 17, 2020

The top two seeds of the Lisboa Belem Open will go head to head in Sunday’s singles final when Jaume Munar of Spain, the No. 1 of the €44,820 ATP Challenger clay-court event, will take on local favourite Pedro Sousa.

Munar eased past Italian Federico Gaio 6-3, 6-0 in the stage of the final four. The World No. 112 from Mallorca saved the only break point he faced and converted four of his own break-point chances to advance in one hour and 13 minutes.

“It was tough in the beginning, I was also a bit nervous, but when I started to move better and hit the ball cleaner, it made the difference,” Munar said.

Sousa beats Giannessi

Earlier on Saturday, Sousa defeated Alessandro Giannessi of Italy 6-4, 6-4. The 32-year-old from Portugal, who finished runner-up to Francisco Cerundulo at the Split Open in Croatia two weeks ago, outpointed his opponent 71-62 after one hour and 25 minutes.

“It’s another final, luckily I’ve been playing a lot of finals in the last few years,” Sousa said. “Obviously this is special because it is in my club, where I grew up and played my whole life. I don’t know if it is the most important, because I have already played and won one of the biggest Challengers, but this is the one with the greatest sentimental value.”

Sousa, who was born and raised in Lisbon is playing at his local club, named Club Internacional de Foot-Ball (CIF), which he considers as his “second home”. His father, Manuel de Sousa, is the director of the tournament and the director of the local tennis school.

By lifting his eighth career trophy, Sousa will tie the Portuguese record for most singles titles on the ATP Challenger Tour, held by his good friend and now coach Rui Machado. “It’s just another final and we are not concerned about that. We work together, so we’re both happy we have good results. 14 of the 15 finals happened since we started working together and that is the most important thing. If I win, we’ll both be happy.”

Munar won the only previous meeting between the two at the 2019 Barcelona Banc Sabadell in three sets.

Cid Subervi/Oliveira clinch doubles crown

In other action, Roberto Cid Subervi from the Dominican Republic and Portuguese Goncalo Oliveira clinched the doubles title. The unseeded duo battled past Harri Heliovaara from Finland and Zdenek Kolar of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-4. The encounter lasted one hour and 35 minutes.

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Gonçalo Oliveira e Roberto Cid Subervi são os campeões de pares do Lisboa Belém Open 2020 🏆👏

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Lisboa Belém Open (@lisboabelemopen) am Okt 17, 2020 um 9:22 PDT

This entry was posted in ATP Challenger Lisbon, ATP Challenger Tour and tagged ATP Challenger Tour, Lisboa Belem Open, Pedro Sousa.

Sousa To Meet Munar For Lisboa Belem Open Title

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