Portuguese tennis player Francisco Cabral made history on Friday by reaching his first career Masters 1000 doubles semifinal, also securing the highest-ever ATP doubles ranking for a Portuguese player.
Cabral, 28, and his Austrian partner Lucas Miedler defeated Australian John Peers and American JJ Tracy in Paris. The unseeded duo won their quarter-final match 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
This achievement ensures that a Portuguese player will, for the first time, enter the top 20 of the professional doubles ranking. Cabral currently holds the 23rd position globally, while Miedler is ranked 35th.
The quarter-final contest lasted one hour and 18 minutes. Peers is a former world No. 2 in doubles, currently 49th, and Tracy is 34th.
Cabral and Miedler secured their third consecutive victory in the Paris tournament. Their semifinal opponents will be the winners of a match between Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, the fifth seeds, and Britain’s Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool, the second seeds.
Cash and Glasspool recently defeated Cabral and Miedler in the final of the ATP 500 Vienna tournament, just five days prior.
Cabral’s previous personal best, and the highest for a Portuguese player, was 26th, a mark set by João Sousa in 2019.
Sousa was also the only other Portuguese player to reach a Masters 1000 doubles semifinal, achieving it in Rome in 2018 and Madrid in 2019.
Cabral and Miedler will now aim for their fifth final of the season together.