João Sousa
João Sousa ( born March 30, 1989 in Guimarães ) is a Portuguese tennis player.
- 3.2.1 Siege
Career
Sousa has been able to achieve initial success primarily on the Challenger Tour. In 2010, he won his first doubles title as he was victorious with Leonardo Tavares in Tampere against the Latvian duo Andis Juška and Deniss Pavlov. The first singles title came in 2011 in Fürth, where he defeated the German champion Jan - Lennard Struff in three sets. His second single title he won in April 2012 in Mersin, Turkey against Javier Marti 6-4, 0-6, 6-4. For a Grand Slam tournament, Sousa could qualify for the first time in 2012 at the French Open. However, in the opening round, he failed to Marcel Granollers in four sets. His debut on the ATP World Tour he gave in 2008 in Estoril, when he was able to successfully qualify for the main draw. In the match against Oliver Marach he kept clearly the upper hand and won clearly with 6:1, 6:3. In the next round against Frederico Gil he was defeated in straight sets. Only four years later, in 2012, he succeeded in re- qualifying for a main field on the World Tour. In Barcelona, he moved into the main draw of the ATP 500 tournament and defeated in the first round of the Russian Igor Kunizyn in two sets. In the second round it was again Frederico Gil, the Sousa tossed from the tournament. Gil narrowly won in three sets. In September 2013 he won in Kuala Lumpur as the first Portuguese a single tournament of the ATP Tour. In the final, he defeated Julien Benneteau in three sets.
Since 2008, Sousa plays for the Portuguese Davis Cup team.
Comments
João Sousa is not to be confused with just a year older Brazilian tennis player João Souza. The two were already together several times in the main field in the same tournament, but so far have never met each other.
There is yet another Portuguese tennis player named Pedro Sousa. The two previous encounters with this could clearly win each João Sousa in two sets.