LOULÉ/STARNBERG, May 11, 2026
Tiago Pereira captured the title at the Loulé Open, an ITF World Tennis Tour M25 tournament organized by the Clube de Ténis de Loulé with the support of the Portuguese Tennis Federation, becoming the fifth Portuguese champion in the event’s 16-year history.
In a historic week for Portuguese tennis — which featured seven Portuguese players among the eight quarterfinalists and four in the semifinals — the Algarve native lived up to his status as the top seed by defeating fellow countryman Joao Domingues 6–4, 6–4 in Sunday’s final.
The championship match began slightly later than scheduled due to rain but was completed without further interruptions after 1 hour and 28 minutes of play.
Tiago Torres é o 1.º português a vencer no Oeiras Open 4 (derrotas de Gonçalo Marques e Salvador Monteiro).
Continua a corresponder nos Challengers e ontem fez SF em Loulé, noutro piso.
4-6, 6-4 e 6-2 vs Abedallah Shelbayh. Bom triunfo! pic.twitter.com/NLQbscyem2
— Steve Grácio (@stevefgracio) May 10, 2026
At 21 years old, Pereira, currently ranked world No. 304, secured his first singles title of the season and the fourth professional singles title of his career. It was also his second ITF M25 title, following his triumph in Figueira da Foz in 2025.
Both sets followed a similar pattern. Pereira earned the early breaks, while Domingues fought back to stay competitive. However, the younger Portuguese player consistently showed greater physical freshness and composure in the closing stages, successfully imposing his heavy forehand and preventing Domingues from finding rhythm with the same shot.
Despite having finished the previous day late in the evening after winning the doubles title alongside Justin Boulais — his fourth doubles title of the season — Pereira still found the energy to triumph in one of the most meaningful tournaments of his career.
“It’s very special for me to win a tournament in the Algarve region,” Pereira said afterward while holding the trophy. “I had already come close twice before, and now I finally did it on the third attempt. I spent a lot of time here when I was a kid, so winning a tournament in Loulé is incredible.”
Four of Pereira’s five victories this week came against fellow Portuguese players, and the young star admitted the pressure of being the top seed was not always easy to manage.
“It’s difficult being the player who is expected to win, especially against compatriots,” he explained. “But mentally I handled it very well. What I take away from this week is how mentally tough I was and how well I managed difficult conditions against excellent players.”
With the victory, Pereira joins Pedro Sousa, Rui Machado, Frederico Silva and Gonçalo Oliveira in the list of Portuguese champions at the Loulé Open.
The result is expected to move the player from Tavira close to the career-high ranking of No. 260 he reached last November, although the ATP Rankings will only be updated on May 18 following next week’s tournaments. Pereira is scheduled to continue his season at the Oeiras Open 4 in Jamor.
Runner-up Joao Domingues, who had also reached the final in Faro earlier this season, continues his strong comeback campaign. Although he was unable to secure what would have been the 11th title of his career, the 31-year-old is projected to return to the ATP Top 700 after beginning the year ranked outside the Top 1200.
