MAIA/STARNBERG, October 14, 2026
Tiago Pereira was unable to turn the tide and joined Henrique Rocha and Francisco Rocha on the list of first-round casualties at the Maia Open, leaving Tiago Torres as Portugal’s sole representative in the singles draw. The ninth edition of the ATP Challenger event, organised by the Portuguese Tennis Federation and Maia City Council, runs until Sunday at the Complexo Municipal de Tenis.
Following an impressive week in Braga, where he reached his first quarterfinals at Challenger level on Portuguese soil, Pereira (No. 339 in the ATP Rankings) was unable to cope with Croatia’s Luka Mikrut (No. 167), going down 6-0, 6-3 in a one-sided encounter.
“He was considerably better than me. I won’t lie, I’m a little tired. I haven’t stopped since Porto, and my shoulder is feeling quite heavy. It showed in my serve today because it is very painful, making it difficult to generate power. But credit to him for winning the way he did. It’s difficult to find anything I liked about my performance, I won’t lie, but that’s life. I tried to keep fighting, but unfortunately, I wasn’t good in any aspect of the game today,” admitted the 22-year-old from the Algarve.
Pereira will return to action early on Wednesday, at 11 a.m., when he contests the first round of the doubles alongside Spain’s Benjamin Winter-Lopez. In singles, however, Tiago Torres is now the last Portuguese player standing.
The reigning Portuguese national champion will make his debut at 3 p.m. against Italy’s Francesco Passaro (No. 229). The Italian was runner-up at the Maia Open in 2024, a result that helped him climb to a career-high ranking of No. 89 three months later. He also arrives in Maia fresh from winning an ATP Challenger 50 title in Palermo over the weekend.
On Tuesday, Hungary’s Zsombor Piros, the third seed, Lithuania’s Vilius Gaubas (sixth seed) and Spain’s Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo (eighth seed) all made winning starts. However, fifth seed Max Alcala Gurri of Spain and seventh seed Andrea Pellegrino of Italy were among those eliminated. Slovakian qualifier Andrej Martin, who reached last year’s final after coming through qualifying, also suffered an early exit.
In the final match of the day, top seed Marco Trungelliti (No. 90) lived up to his billing with a comeback victory over Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro (No. 235), prevailing 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. The Argentine, who faced the former world No. 61 for the sixth time, levelled their head-to-head record at three wins apiece.
