OERIAS/STARNBERG, April 3, 2022
World No. 198 Gastao Elias has become the first Portuguese player to win nine singles titles on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 31-year-old Lourinha native lifted the trophy of the Oeiras Open 1 hosted by the Centro Desportivo Nacional Do Jamor. Elias defeated Nino Serdarusic of Croatia 6-3, 6-4 on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Oeiras, Portugal.
In front of about 1,000 spectators at the iconic Centralito, home favourite Elias didn’t face a break point and capitalized on three of his own six break-point chances to secure victory in one hour and 29 minutes.
CHAMPION! @GastaoElias defeats Nino Serdarusic 6-3, 6-4 to win the #OeirasOpen, becoming the first Portuguese player to lift 9 @ATPChallenger 🏆 pic.twitter.com/c6cCJiukCe
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) April 3, 2022
Elias battled his way to the championship match with wins in the bottom half of the draw over US-American qualifier Alex Rybakov, Italian alternate Andrea Vavassori, No. 7 seed Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic and eighth-seeded Italian Alessandro Giannessi.
By winning his first title of the season, his first since his triumph at the same place in late May last year, Elias earned €6,190 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
“I am very happy. I ended last year’s Oeiras Open tournament series with a title and I start this one with a win. I’d be happy to win anywhere, but here it’s more special. Furthermore, I played great tennis at a very good level and I was consistent. It’s what I take most from this week and I hope to take it to the next ones,” Elias said.
“Being the Portuguese tennis player with the most titles means something and I feel honored to have this record in my hands. It’s another achievement for my career and I need to increase that number even more.”
Borges/Cabral triumph in doubles
On Saturday, two other local heroes were successful in the doubles competition, as Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral won the title following a 6-3, 6-0 win over Sanjar Fayziev from Uzbekistan and Markos Kalovelonis of Greece. The final lasted 47 minutes.
Borges and Cabral claimed their seventh ATP Challenger team title and split €2,670 in prize money and pocketed 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
The quest continues 👏
After leading the #ATPChallenger Tour with six doubles titles in 2021, 🇵🇹 @nunoborges97 & 🇵🇹 Francisco Cabral win their first of 2022, moving past Fayziev & Kalovelonis 6-3, 6-0 in Oeiras!
📸: Sara Falcao/FPT pic.twitter.com/jhtGwcLQMY
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 2, 2022
