{"id":14458,"date":"2026-08-17T02:40:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/the-trophies-stay-at-home-at-the-2026-vilamoura-summer-cup\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T02:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T00:40:57","slug":"the-trophies-stay-at-home-at-the-2026-vilamoura-summer-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/the-trophies-stay-at-home-at-the-2026-vilamoura-summer-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"The trophies stay at home at the 2026 Vilamoura Summer Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lifting a trophy at a tournament held in one\u2019s own country is a special experience. At 4.30 pm Portuguese time (5.30 pm in Spain) on Sunday 16 August, the crowd gathered at the Vilamoura Tennis & Padel Academy<\/a><\/span><\/strong> to watch the Portuguese pair Catarina Santos<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and Alexandra Silva<\/a><\/strong><\/span> were crowned champions of the Vilamoura Summer Cup<\/strong> after defeating the Spanish-Portuguese pair of Isa Dom\u00ednguez <\/a><\/strong><\/span>and Carina Costa<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in the final in three sets: 6-3, 4-6 and 6-2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA final is always a final, which is why it\u2019s always a tough match, regardless of who the opponents are. We played our first match of the tournament outdoors, but then we played indoors; ultimately, the conditions are always different and we had to adapt, but I think it went well,\u201d said Catarina Santos <\/strong>after the match.<\/p>\n

After a second set in which Carina Costa<\/strong> and Isa Dom\u00ednguez<\/strong> stepped up their game to level the score, Alexandra Silva <\/strong>found the key to tackling the deciding set thanks to her team-mate\u2019s words: \u201cCatarina said something between the second and third sets and I think that was key: \u2018We\u2019ve got to enjoy ourselves whilst playing; if we enjoy ourselves, everything goes better and we win. Or maybe not, but we\u2019ll be more likely to win\u2019,\u201d admits Silva.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With another title under their belts, Catarina Santos \u2014 ranked 10th in Portugal\u2019s senior national rankings \u2014 and Alexandra Silva \u2014 ranked 4th \u2014 remain fully committed to their partnership: \u201cWe\u2019re going to play together until the end of the season. In the last week of August, we\u2019ll be playing in a FIP Bronze tournament in Belgrade, and after that, we haven\u2019t decided yet,\u201d said Santos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Pedros\u2019 dominated from start to finish<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Following the women\u2019s final, it was the men\u2019s turn. On court, the Portuguese pair Peu Ara\u00fajo<\/span><\/strong> <\/a>and Pedro Gra\u00e7a<\/a><\/strong><\/span> faced their compatriot Vasco Pascoal<\/a><\/strong><\/span> (currently number 4 in Portugal\u2019s senior national rankings) and the Spaniard Samuel Al\u00f3s<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. The match brought to mind a recent encounter: the FIP Silver Mimosa Open Porto<\/strong>, held in July this year, where the two pairs met in the quarter-finals, with Ara\u00fajo and Gra\u00e7a emerging victorious. At the Vilamoura Summer Cup<\/strong>, history repeated itself. In just two sets, the leaders of Portugal\u2019s national rankings convincingly defeated the Spanish-Portuguese pair 6-3, 6-0<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategy was to play our own game. Vasco and Samu are good players, not particularly aggressive, and they\u2019ve had good results outdoors. Even so, it went well; I think we played very well; we adapted well to their style of play,\u201d said Pedro Gra\u00e7a<\/strong> after the match.<\/p>\n

With this victory, the \u2018Pedros\u2019 have added another title to their honours list before setting off for Taranto (Italy) to represent the Portuguese national team<\/span> <\/a><\/strong>at the 20th Mediterranean Games<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Vilamoura Summer Cup<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Vilamoura Summer Cup has established itself as a key event on the Portuguese competitive circuit. Backed by the Portuguese Padel Federation<\/strong><\/span>, it offers prize money of \u20ac10,000<\/strong> for the M1<\/strong> and F1 <\/strong>categories. However, the event is not limited to the professional level: the senior and Class 10,000 <\/strong>tournaments open their courts to players of all levels \u2014 from 1 to 6 <\/strong>\u2014 fostering a harmonious atmosphere on the circuit. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis tournament has already become a classic fixture in August,\u201d says Pedro Fraz\u00e3o<\/strong>, owner of the event\u2019s official venue, the Vilamoura Tennis & Padel Academy<\/strong>. \u201cThere used to be no tournaments at this time of year, so we decided to organise this event. The first edition exceeded our expectations to such an extent that, nowadays, August features entire weekends of competitions.\u201d Next up is the 4th Open Padel4move by M Concept Home<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, an official senior tournament and a Class 5,000 <\/strong>event to be held in Albufeira <\/strong>from 19 to 23 August.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peu Ara\u00fajo and Pedro Gra\u00e7a clinch the M1 title; Catarina Santos and Alexandra Silva are F1 champions <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158],"tags":[],"clasificacion":[],"pais":[],"tipo-de-torneo":[176],"tipo-de-competicion":[],"class_list":["post-14458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brief-news","tipo-de-torneo-tournament-in-portugal"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14458"},{"taxonomy":"clasificacion","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/clasificacion?post=14458"},{"taxonomy":"pais","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pais?post=14458"},{"taxonomy":"tipo-de-torneo","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipo-de-torneo?post=14458"},{"taxonomy":"tipo-de-competicion","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/padelinformacion.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipo-de-competicion?post=14458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}