MAIA, December 2, 2021
The Portuguese trio of Tiago Cacao (World No. 507), Pedro Araujo (No. 723) and Duarte Vale (No. 744) received the wild cards into the main draw of the Maia Open I, one of two €44,820 ATP Challenger Tour tournaments organized by the Portuguese Tennis Federation with the support from the Municipality of Maia. The events will be held indoors on clay at the Complexo Municipal de Ténis da Maia, kicking off Sunday, December 5.
The three home favourites will join their compatriots Gastao Elias (No. 222), Frederico Silva (No. 234), Joao Domingues (No. 248), Nuno Borges (No. 253) as well as Goncalo Oliveira (No. 282), who are direct entries.
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The field will be led by Andrej Martin of Slovakia (No. 121), Kimmer Coppejans from Belgium (No. 205) and Italian Flavio Cobolli (No. 208).
“We’re going to see great tennis,” tournament director Joao Maio said. “Most of the main draw players are ranked between World No. 100 and World No. 200. They are not that far from the best. They have an excellent level and compete with the best on the circuit. We expect two weeks of tennis at a very high level.”
Maia native Borges said: “The tournaments in Portugal had a huge influence for me in terms of ranking, but also in terms of development. Playing against the best in the world and being closer and closer to the top has been essential to make me aware of the reality of this level and I hope to be able to close the season with good results in these two weeks here at home.”
The 24-year-old captured his 10th career title on the ITF Pro Circuit in Antalya in February and is seeking his first triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour.
The Maia Open are part of the last Challenger tournaments of the season alongside the Rio Tennis Classic in Brazil.
