Wikipedia - Laura Pigossi
Laura Pigossi Herrmann de Andrade (Portuguese: [ˈlawɾɐ piˈɡɔsi]; born 2 August 1994) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. She won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, playing alongside Luisa Stefani.
Pigossi has won one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. She has also won nine singles titles and 41 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 29 August 2022, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 100, following her first WTA Tour final in the 2022 Copa Colsanitas. On 3 February 2020, she peaked at No. 125 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Playing for Brazil Fed Cup team since 2013, Pigossi has a win-loss record of 9–9 in Billie Jean King Cup competition as of April 2024.
History
2020–2021: Olympics debut and historic bronze medal
Pigossi is an Olympic bronze medallist from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the doubles event. She partnered with Luisa Stefani to defeat Veronika Kudermetova and defending gold medallist Elena Vesnina to win the bronze medal. Pigossi and Stefani became the first Brazilians to obtain an Olympic medal in tennis in history, surpassing Fernando Meligeni's campaign that took 4th place in 1996. The medal was one of the most unexpected: the Brazilians got an Olympic spot at the last minute, confirmed one week before the Games opened, with Stefani ranked No. 23 in the doubles ranking and Pigossi only at No. 190. Although the Brazilian pair had lost in the only game they played together before, during the campaign, they managed to save eight match points. In addition to the four in the bronze-medal match, they saved another four in the match against Czech duo Karolína Plíšková/Markéta Vondroušová in the round of 16.
2022: Grand Slam & top 100 & WTA 1000 debut
In 2022, she played her first qualifying at a Grand Slam at the Australian Open. After some decent campaigns on the ITF Circuit, Pigossi had her first WTA Tour-level wins at Copa Colsanitas in Bogotá, Colombia, coming from the qualifyings and reaching the finals. The campaign in Bogotá included wins against Dayana Yastremska in the quarterfinals and top seed Camila Osorio in the semifinals before losing the final to Tatjana Maria. Consequently, Pigossi reached a new career-high (No. 126) in the singles rankings on 11 April 2022. In May, she reached two second rounds at WTA 125-level in Saint-Malo and Karlsruhe. At the French Open, Pigossi made the qualifying draw as the 16th seed.
In June, she made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon.
At the Guadalajara Open, she made her main-draw debut at the WTA 1000-level as a lucky loser.
2023: WTA Challenger title, Australian Open debut
She also made her debut at the Australian Open as a lucky loser. In August, Pigossi won her biggest title to date, a $60k held in the Brazilian city of Feira de Santana. During the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Pigossi won both the women's singles and doubles, the first Brazilian to ever do so – as well as the third to medal in both events after Maria Bueno and Gisele Miró – and earning her a spot in the 2024 Summer Olympics singles tournament. Pigossi would also earn her first WTA 125 title by winning the Buenos Aires Open.