STARNBERG, February 27, 2022

Frenchman Laurent Lokoli captured the title of the Vale do Lobo International Open. The No. 5 seed of the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 hard-court tournament, organized by the Vale do Lobo Tennis Academy as well as the Portuguese Tennis Federation, defeated Alejandro Moro Canas in Sunday’s singles final 6-2, 6-1.

Lokoli booked his place in the championship match in Portugal with wins over Maximilian Neuchrist of Austria, home favourites Tiago Cacao and Goncalo Oliveira, as well as Christopher Heyman from Belgium. The World No. 397 broke Canas’ serve six times and won 20 points more than his rival to secure victory in one hour and 40 minutes.

Laurent Lokoli is the champion in Vale do Lobo M25!

Playing his third ITF final of the season, the Frenchman defeats Alejandro Moro Canas 6-2, 6-1 to win a second straight title. pic.twitter.com/8BFaHzTWqD

— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) February 27, 2022

“It was a very good week for me. I played some tough matches, against very good opponents, and I’m happy that I managed to play my best tennis,” said Lokoli, who lifted his second trophy of the season following his triumph in Monastir, Tunisia earlier this month.

“It’s true that I’m confident because I come from winning a tournament and a final and that was important. But the result does not reflect the intensity of the encounter. He has been very solid throughout the week. Credits to him. I think what made the difference were the first games of the match. I had some opportunities and after managing to win two or three very even games, I was confident to be more aggressive. I’m happy to have been able to play this way and to win another title.”

World No. 562 Canas was seeking his second title on the ITF Pro Circuit. “Laurent had an incredible week and he did very well in all the matches he played, I have to congratulate him because he had a fantastic week,” the 21-year-old runner-up said.

“He came here with a lot of confidence and I also had some demanding matches at a great level, and I think that today I couldn’t show the level of the previous matches. The first set was 6-2, but only some details made the difference. There were some very long games, 15 or 20 minutes, which he could win and gave him more confidence. Then I started the second set very well, more aggressive, but I ended up not taking advantage of it.”