Sofia Prazeres (born 19 June 1974) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Portugal.

Biography

Born in Porto, Prazeres started playing tennis at the age of seven. Prazeres debuted on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

as a 16 year old at the 1990 Estoril Open, featuring in both the singles and doubles draws. In 1991, she began representing Portugal in

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

competition and went on to become the most capped player in the team's history, with 30 wins from 49 matches. She made main draw appearances in singles at the

1995 Moscow Ladies Open The 1995 Moscow Ladies Open was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow in Russia that was part of Tier III of the 1995 WTA Tour. It was held from 18 September through 23 September 1995, and w ...

and the 1997 Styrian Open. After making it to the final round of qualifying at the

1997 French Open The 1997 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament was held from 26 May until 8 June. It was the 101st staging of the French Open, and the second Gran ...

, she reached her highest singles ranking of 152 in the world. This was the highest rank attained by a female player from Portugal until surpassed by

Frederica Piedade Frederica Piedade (born 5 June 1982) is a former Portuguese tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a t ...

. She retired in 1998, soon after winning Portugal's

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

for the nine successive year.

ITF finals

Singles: 9 (1–8)

Doubles: 11 (6–5)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prazeres, Sofia 1974 births Living people Portuguese female tennis players Sportspeople from Porto 20th-century Portuguese women