(Photo: Gaspar Nóbrega/COB)
The LuLau duo is back! For the first time after historic medal in women’s tennis at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Brazilians Luisa Stefani and Laura Pigossi compete together again, this time at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. They met their first opponents in the competition on Sunday evening (22), as well as the four other athletes who will compete in this sport.
Luisa and Laura are the number one seeded pair and are eliminated in the first round. They advance directly to the round of 16, where they will face Ecuadorians Mell Reasco and Camila Romero. If they advance to the semi-finals, they could face Chileans Fernanda Labraña and Alexa Guarachi, seeds number 3. On the other side of the draw, we find Colombians Maria Herazo and Maria Pérez, the second highest ranked pair of the tournament.
The tennis competitions will begin this Monday (23), at the Centro Deportivo de Tênis, but the doubles tournaments will begin on Tuesday. There is no official schedule yet, but since Luisa and Laura will not play in the first round, it is possible that they will not be on the field on the first day either. The women’s doubles final will take place on Sunday, at 5 p.m. (Brasilia time).
Brazil favorite in other categories
Besides LuLau, Brazil has top-ranked athletes in three of the other four tennis tournaments. One of them is in women’s singles, precisely with Laura Pigossi. The Olympic medalist, who is in 148th place in the world rankings, will have a peaceful life until the quarter-finals. Indeed, she will start against the Salvadoran Sara Cruz (unranked) and could face Arina Valitova, from Saint Kitts and Nevis (1237th), in the round of 16.
Remember that the individual tennis matches of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games will give Olympic places for Paris 2024. This will therefore be one of Laura’s main chances to get her passport stamped for the French capital, since her chances of qualifying via the ranking are low. While waiting for the final, the highest ranked opponent that Laura can face is the American Jamie Loeb (228th).
Another Brazilian in action among the women is Carol Meligeni, ranked 574th in the world and seeded number 6, who will face Salvadoran Daniela Aguilar (1283rd) for her debut. She will only find the Canadian Rebecca Marino, 160th in the world and second favorite athlete in the competition, in a possible semi-final. Carol won bronze at Lima-2019, playing in women’s doubles alongside Luisa Stefani.
In men’s doubles, Gustavo Heide and Marcelo Demoliner will face the Jamaicans Blaise Bicknell/Rowland Philips or the Americans Omni Kumar/Evan Zhu in the round of 16. In the mixed category, Demoliner himself will join Stefani. The two will face the Canadians Justin Boulais/Rebecca Marino or the Hondurans Alejandro Obando/Natalie Espinal in the round of 16.
Men’s singles
Finally, the only group in which Brazil does not have the number 1 seed is that of the men’s singles. The country has Thiago Monteiro (126th), seeded number 4, and Gustavo Heide (254th), seeded sixth. Thiago will face for his debut the Costa Rican Rodrigo Crespo (unranked) or the Peruvian Conner del Pino (677th), while Heide will face the Dominican Roberto Cid (525th) or the Venezuelan Ricardo Rodriguez (1358th) in front.
The men’s tournament, in fact, will feature athletes who usually appear in Challengers. The Argentinian Facundo Diaz Acosta (98th) is the highest ranked player. The competition also includes the Chilean Tomás Barrios Vera (107th), silver medalist in Lima-2019 after his defeat against the Brazilian João Menezes; the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (119th) and the Argentinian Facundo Bagnis (163rd), among others.
Check the tennis calendar in Santiago-2023.
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