MAIA/STARNBERG, November 28, 2025
Tiago Pereira will close out his 2025 season with a shot at the doubles title at the Maia Open, an ATP Challenger 100 indoor clay-court tournament organized by the Portuguese Tennis Federation and the Municipality of Maia. The event runs through Sunday at the Complexo Municipal de Ténis da Maia and no longer features any Portuguese players in singles competition.
In Friday’s opening match, Pereira and his partner Alexander Donski earned their third win of the week, cruising past third seeds David Pichler of Austria and Inigo Cervantes of Spain, 6-3, 6-1.
The Portuguese-Bulgarian duo have captured five ITF World Tennis Tour titles together and even reached a Challenger final in Segovia last summer, but they are still seeking their first championship at this level. More recently, Pereira was also a finalist in Barletta alongside Mats Hermans.
Tiago Pereira não quer ir de férias e vai fechar 2025 com a final de pares no Maia Open. Terceira da carreira no circuito Challenger (segunda com Alexander Donski), à procura do primeiro título a este nível. pic.twitter.com/2yFT70OYfN
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) November 28, 2025
Saturday’s final, scheduled not before 3 p.m. local time, will be Tiago Pereira’s 158th match of the season and his 63rd in doubles). The long campaign gives the 21-year-old another opportunity to join his father, Pedro Pereira, on the list of Portuguese doubles champions on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Their final opponents will be top seeds Theo Arribage and Nino Serdarusic. Arribage lifted the doubles trophy in Maia in 2024 with Francisco Cabral.
Before the doubles title match, the singles semifinals will take place. The first features two qualifiers: France’s Lilian Marmousez and Slovakia’s Andrej Martin. The second pits two seeded players against each other: Elmer Moller of Denmark and Spaniard Daniel Merida.
The first semifinal berth was secured by Martin. The 36-year-old, a former World No. 93 in February 2020, continued his strong history in Maia by reaching the semifinals for the fifth time in five appearances – just as he did last year after starting in qualifying.
The Bratislava native claimed the first of Friday’s four straight-sets victories with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Russian lucky loser Alexey Vatutin.
Next, Lilian Marmousez followed suit, defeating Filip Cristian Jianu 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second Challenger semifinal of his career. Because his run began in qualifying and the Maia event is an ATP Challenger 100, he already considers this the best week of his career.
The surprise of the day came with the elimination of top seed Jan Choinski. After surviving a tight battle against Frederico Silva in the previous round, the World No. 128 could not cope with Daniel Merida. The No. 5 seed prevailed 6-3, 7-5 in the day’s first match on Centre Court.
A quarterfinalist in Maia in 2024, the 21-year-old Merida has now bettered that result and will play for a place in the final against a player with proven success in Portugal: Elmer Moller. The 22-year-old Dane has already lifted two Challenger titles in the country – the 2024 Braga Open and the Oeiras Open 125 earlier this season.
Moller extended his final week of the year with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over another Spaniard, qualifier Carlos Lopez Montagud. He rallied from deficits of 3-5 in the first set and 3-4 (with a break down) in the second set to advance.
