Fortunato, national champion and 283rd in the world rankings, beat the Spanish Cristina Teruel and the French Juliane Piron to stay one game away from the main table.

Sónia Gonçalves, 693rd, left behind two Canadians, Johnna Rymes and Eyota Kwan, the latter in three sets and with a 'turnaround', to move on, with a meeting scheduled for Friday 8 March with Megan Lee, from Singapore, 272nd of the global hierarchy.

“I think I managed to turn the game around well. [...] I know the next game will be difficult, but nothing is impossible. I like playing in Portugal and it gives us greater strength, I will have the public in my favor”, she told Lusa.

“In the second set, I wanted to risk a little more and she, intelligent and experienced, changed her tactics”, lamented the 258th player in the world.

Adriana Gonçalves, Mafalda Avelino, Cláudia Lourenço, Mariana Afonso, Beatriz Monteiro (Paralympic athlete), Marta Sousa, Catarina Martins and Inês Pardilhó also finished in the first round of 'qualifying'.

In the men's category, Gabriel Rodrigues, who was a reserve for the tournament and was called to compete, was the one who came the furthest, remaining in the competition after triumphs against two Belgians, Baptiste Rolin and Yaro van Delsen, with remaining two games away from the 'main round'.

Along the way was the national number two, Bruno Carvalho, who was winning in the third set and ended up falling, against the German Aaron Sonnenschein, but also Pedro Portelas, Diogo Glória and David Silva.

Bernardo Atilano, seven-time national champion and 145th in the world, is the only Portuguese with direct entry into the main singles table, entering action from Friday.

Today, the High Performance Center will host the qualifying round of the 59th Portuguese Internationals, the highlight of the year in this sport on national territory, with male, female and mixed pairs in action.