Francisco Cabral and Nuno Borges never met in the semifinals of the Estoril Open, with the apathy of the Portuguese tennis players earning them defeat to Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen and saying goodbye to defending the title.
The Portuguese duo bid farewell to the only ATP tournament played in Portugal, now without national representatives, after losing to the fourth-seeded team, 7-6 (7-4) and 7-6 (7-4), in one hour and 47 minutes.
On their return to the central court of the Clube de Ténis do Estoril a year after lifting the trophy there, the still-reigning champions of the Estoril Open entered curiously apathetic – even Cabral, the loquacious of the duo, seemed unusually quiet – and took a moment to catch up on the meeting.
The Portuguese lost a break beyond recognition in the sixth game, struggled in the seventh and remained lethargic even as Cabral scored an incredible point from his knees on the court.
There was a lot of scrutiny in the stands, where Borges’ coach and national coach, Rui Machado, sat, but there was a sense in the air that something was wrong with the Portuguese duo, namely with Cabral, the duo’s fixed emotional ‘motor’ .
With no reaction, the 26-year-old friends from the north ran into trouble in the 11th game, with the variant’s leading national specialist – he is ranked 53rd in the world – moving little, but saving himself from service problems.
The ‘light years’ of tennis they played in the six consecutive meetings they won in the tournament (four in 2022, on their way to the title, and two in this edition), gave the Portuguese the ‘tie-break’ with a communication misunderstanding when it was time to play the ‘set point’ ball.
Going straight to the ‘socks’ by the withdrawal of their opponents, Moldovan Radu Albot and Romanian Victor Vlad Cornea, the fourth seed was solid, without needing to be brilliant, and took advantage of the many mistakes the Portuguese made . – many balls from Borges, the national number one in singles (and 65th worldwide), remained in the net.
Sander Gille, with placed services and aces, removed the trouble in the third game, before a disastrous service game by Borges the Belgian was almost worth the break – Cabral solved it in the net, prompting the applause of the crowd.
“Let’s go Borges”, the Porto native insisted, after making it 3-3, but his partner continued to make mistakes, so much so that he hit the racquet in frustration after missing consecutive balls in the seventh game , closed by quarter, serial heads.
It was more than an hour and a half before Cabral returned to his ‘self’ and solicited the support of the crowd, who did not deny him, aware that with 5-5 on the scoreboard it was the right time for the break’.
But the reaction came late: due to the lack of successive answers to the service, the Portuguese could not put their opponents in trouble and the set headed for a tie-break.
The champion had another mini-break to lead 3-2, but Cabral lost it with an error in the net. It would be another miscalculation by Borges, who let a ball pass thinking he was going out, giving the Belgians a game that met the minimum requirements to progress to the final.
Source: DN
