Luisa Stefani falls in the US Open semifinal – 09/08/2023 – Sport

Brazilian Luisa Stefani once again had to postpone her dream of reaching the decision of the women’s doubles at the US Open.

Playing alongside American Jennifer Brady, the 26-year-old from São Paulo was eliminated in the semifinals, this Friday (8), against the partnership formed by German Laura Siegemund and Russian Vera Zvonareva.

The match ended 6/4 and 6/1 for the Europeans, who had also eliminated another Brazilian in this edition of the Grand Slam: in the quarterfinals, they beat São Paulo’s Bia Haddad Maia and Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka, in turn, by 2 sets to 1 (partials 5/7, 7/5 and 6/4).

The women’s doubles decision will be played on Sunday (10), against Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, Stefani’s former partner, and New Zealander Erin Routliffe.

Alongside Dabrowski, Luisa Stefani also reached the US Open semifinals in the 2021 season, when she became the first Brazilian to reach this stage in a Grand Slam since 1968. In that match, the São Paulo native tore one of her knee ligaments and left the court in a wheelchair.

She underwent surgery in the United States and needed a long recovery period, which cost her a drop of 700 positions in the world rankings due to her absence from the courts. Currently, the Brazilian woman occupies 14th place on the list.

With her semi-finalist campaign, Stefani is expected to move up four positions in the next ranking update, which would put her back in the top 10 of WTA doubles after one year and eight months.

“Returning to the top 10 is one of my goals this year. Coming back from a post-injury year, first full season. My main goal is to actually be able to play the entire year without injury. So, being healthy, I think anything can happen, and Then I will look for these ranking goals, results and partnerships”, commented the tennis player in a recent interview with the official website of the Olympic Games.

Bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics alongside Laura Pigossi, Stefani was mixed doubles champion with Rafael Matos at this year’s Australian Open. This was the first 100% Brazilian partnership to win a doubles title in one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world.