Home favourite Sousa lands Estoril crown

ESTORIL, Portugal: Portugal’s Joao Sousa had to battle at the end before becoming the first home player to win the Estoril Open with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of American Frances Tiafoe on Sunday.

The 29-year-old Sousa, ranked 68th in the world, needed to call upon his reserves to claim the opening set by saving three break points in the final game.

Serving for victory at 5-2 in the second, the Portuguese was broken as Tiafoe briefly delayed the festivities.

But the local hero came good two games later as he clinched a third career title, a feat which quickly got the mainly Portuguese crowd into the mood for a mass sing-along chorus of celebration.

“This is fantastic, it’s such a special win, especially coming at home,” Sousa said. “I’m so proud to win here.

“There are no words to describe this emotion, the fans were fantastic all week. It was incredible, it was a dream come true.

“I always wanted to win here in Portugal.”

The previous Portuguese high point at the event came in 2010 when Frederico Gil played the final, losing to Albert Montanes of Spain.

Tiafoe, realising how much the victory meant to his opponent, crossed the net to speak with Sousa and congratulate him.

“I knew how big this is for him, it would be big for me if I won. The whole country was behind him, I’m sure he felt that all week,” Tiafoe said.

“He’s massive here, it’s huge that he won. He played too good, too tough for me.

“I’m happy for him, he’s one of the nicest guys on the tour.”

Sousa, playing in his 10th final, also won Valencia in 2015 and at Kuala Lumpur five years ago.

Tiafoe, 20, was thwarted in his bid to collect a second career title after making his trophy breakthrough in February at Delray Beach, Florida.

The world number 64 fell short in the end as he failed to generate the momentum which had kept him in clay contention all week.

Sousa improved to 18-10 this season after a poor start which he turned around with consistent results starting in March.

Sousa made a fast start as he produced a break of Tiafoe in the third game of the opener to take a 2-1 lead which he held throughout as the set progressed on level-pegging.

But NextGen player Tiafoe suddenly struck, putting the Portuguese hope into a hole and facing three break points in the 10th game of the set.

Sousa calmly saved all three, then earned a set point before closing it out by winning his fifth straight point to take the lead 6-4 after 40 minutes.

Sousa, sensing his chances, broke to start the second set, putting his less experienced opponent on the back foot.

It quickly went to 2-0 as Tiafoe’s mistakes mounted, with the youngster committing his fourth double fault to lose the second game.

The American fell further behind before finally holding serve for 1-4 and launching a spirited rally, although one that came too late.

“I didn’t feel great during the match, I wasn’t moving my feet,” Tiafoe said. “He didn’t give me too many chances, I was leaving a lot of balls short.

“He took advantage, he could play like he wanted the entire match.” - AFP WASHINGTON: Undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Justify will race in the second leg of US flat racing’s Triple Crown at the Preakness in two weeks, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday.

Baffert said the three-year-old colt had abundant energy the morning after defeating Good Magic by 2 1/2 lengths to conquer a 20-horse field over 1 1/4 miles on a muddy Churchill Downs track.

“He looks phenomenal,” Baffert said. “He’s full of himself. He knows he’s a stud. He came back and he really wasn’t that tired.

“He ate up last night and today he has been a handful. When I got him out of the stall he was pulling me around. Usually they are a little bit tired.”

Justify, who has won all four of his starts, is expected to arrive three or four days before the second leg of the Triple Crown is contested over 1 3/16 miles on May 19 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland.

The third race of the treble is June 9 at the Belmont Stakes in New York. Only 12 horses have won all three races in the same year, the most recent being Baffert-trained American Pharoah in 2015.

Justify became only the second horse to win the Derby after not racing as a two-year-old, the other being Apollo in 1882.

Baffert has trained five Derby winners, one shy of the all-time record, and no Derby winner of his who has raced the Preakness has failed to win it.

The fact Justify was still frisky to run after the sixth-fastest opening quarter-mile in Derby history at 22.24 seconds and a muddy race spoke volumes to Baffert in terms of winning style and what the future might bring.

“For a horse to do what he has done he has to be really great,” Baffert said.

“It was just an awesome performance. We were hoping he had that in him. At the threeeighths pole I thought, ‘Man, he better be a really good horse.’ We saw another gear that we hadn’t seen yet. That’s where the greatness comes in.