A huge congratulations to Sofia Aveiro-Pita, who has won the 2021/22 Portuguese National Championships!
Competing in her first ever nationals, Sofia travelled to Lisbon on 16th & 17th July to take on Portugal’s best and for the chance to win the prestigious championships.
At her highest world ranking of #166, Sofia was top seed for the event but there was stern opposition in the form of no.2 seed Maria Arseniev (#176) and no.3 seed reigning national champion Catarina Nunes (#377).
Sofia got through her first two rounds clinically and without dropping many points, setting up a semi-final encounter with her good friend and world no.446 Mariana Ventura Martins. Despite the potential for it being a tricky match, Sofia started the match brilliantly and maintained this level to get a convincing 3/0 win (11/1, 11/5, 11/4). This secured her place in the final against Catarina Nunes, who had won the title for the past eight consecutive years. There was a capacity crowd at the Lisbon Racket Centre for the final, hoping to see a great match. They were not disappointed by the level of squash and excitement on show!
Sofia took a marathon first game 13/11, before narrowly losing out 9/11 in the second. The third game was again very close but went the way of Catarina. Unfazed by being a game behind, Sofia took a commanding lead of the fourth and, despite a spirited comeback from her opponent, managed to take the game 11/8 and set up the decider. In the fifth, Sofia’s fitness shone through, and she raced to an unassailable lead, before taking the match and the title on her first championship ball!