Sofia Araújo

Sofia Araújo
Personal information
Born (1994-11-30) 30 November 1994
Lisbon, Portugal
Height1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Sport
Country Portugal
SportTennis (formerly)
Pádel
PositionRevés (left-side)
Rank
8th (PP)[1]
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking
7th (in 2025 Premier Padel)
904 (in tennis dobules, on 27 May 2013)
926 (in tennis singles, on 18 October 2010)

Sofia Araújo (born 30 November 1994) is a Portuguese former professional tennis player[2] and currently a professional padel player.[1]

Since turning professional in padel at age 26, Sofia Araújo has steadily progressed, having played alongside three former world number ones. First she played with María José Sánchez Alayeto, then Alejandra Salazar, and currently Marta Ortega (in her third stint with her).

With nine tournament victories and 19 finals appearances (across both secondary and main circuits) to her name, Sofia currently holds the number 8 spot in the FIP rankings used by Premier Padel.

Carrer

First steps in sports competition

Sofia Araújo began her career as a professional tennis player. On 18 October 2010, Araújo reached her best singles ranking of world number 926. On 27 May 2013, she peaked at world number 904 in the doubles rankings.

In April 2013, Araújo made her WTA tour debut at the 2013 Portugal Open playing alongside Joana Valle Costa in doubles, but lost to Nina Bratchikova and Varvara Lepchenko in the first round.[3] However, shortly after her debut, she stepped away from the sport to study physiotherapy at university.

She eventually returned to sports after signing up for a padel tournament, where she teamed up with her mother. At 29, the Lisbon native left behind her hometown, family, friends, and physiotherapy career to pursue padel professionally. She moved to Madrid, thereby ending her two-year association with Benfica.[4]

Breakthrough season

Her breakthrough season in women's padel came in 2020. In addition to winning four tournaments on the Cupra FIP Tour (the secondary circuit), she was named "Breakout Player" of the season by the World Padel Tour (the premier circuit at the time). The Portuguese player enjoyed the best season of her career on the world's top padel circuit, finishing the year by competing in the Master Final, a tournament reserved for the year's top 16 male and female players on the WPT.[5]

Sofia, who played the entire season alongside Virginia Riera, reached the semifinals of the Madrid Open and three quarterfinals (Estrella Damm Open, Sardinia Open, and Menorca Open) in 2020. These results that left Araújo and Riera with 1,315 points at the conclusion of the nine tournaments held that year.[5]

Breakthrough into the Padel elite

After regularly reaching the semifinals, the first final came in 2022 alongside former world number 1 Majo Sánchez at the Danish Open, against Beatriz Gonzaléz & Marta Ortega.[6]

This performance would be improved in the following season, now playing with former world number 1 Alejandra Salazar. On the World Padel Tour circuit, the pair reached two Open 1000 finals (in Sweden and Finland),[7] while in Premier Padel, they reached the final of the Milan P1.[8][9]

More finals and first trophy

2024

2024 would prove to be her best season to date. After a start to the season featuring two modest tournament performances, Sofia, partnering with Virginia Riera, reached the final of the Acapulco P1, where they were defeated in straight sets.[10]

In the eight subsequent tournaments, the pair consistently reached the quarterfinals but managed to advance beyond that stage only twice. However, at the Genoa P2, now playing alongside Marta Ortega, the Spanish-Portuguese duo not only reached the finals but also defeated the world number ones, Ariana Sánchez & Paula Josemaría, to claim the first major title of her career.[11]

After a modest performance in the subsequent tournament, they reached the final again at the Finland P2, this time losing the rematch against Ariana & Paula.[12] With three more semifinals and a quarterfinal appearances in the next four tournaments, Marta and Sofia reached another final at the Egypt P2, defeating Alejandra Salazar & Jessica Castelló to claim their second title as a pair.[13]

The pair would reach another final in 2024, making it to the final of the Mexico Major, one of the season's four most important tournaments, but failed to defeat Claudia Fernández & Gemma Triay.[14]

2025

Despite a decent start to the season featuring four consecutive semifinals, results deteriorated over the next three tournaments, with only one quarterfinal appearance. This slump led Marta and Sofia to part ways, with the Portuguese player teaming up with promising youngster Andrea Ustero.[15][16]

After mixed results in their first four tournaments, Araújo and Ustero reached the final of the Bordeaux P2, where they defeated Beatriz Caldera and Carmen Goenaga to claim their first title together.[17]

In the ten tournaments leading up to the end of the regular season, Araújo and Ustero reached another seven semifinals, however, despite their consistency in reaching the later stages, they failed to reach a final to play for a title. Their final tournament as a team was the Premier Finals,[18] where they played for third place against Ariana Sánchez and Paula Josemaría, who were also set to part ways.[19]

Honours

  Win   Draw   Loss

World Padel Tour (2013–2023)

Finals

N.º Date Tournament Partner Result Opponents in the final Career title No.
1. 22/05/2022 Denmark Danish Open Spain Majo Sánchez 2–6 / 1–6 Spain Beatriz Gonzaléz
Spain Marta Ortega		 [6][20]
2. 03/09/2023 Finland Finland Open 1000 Spain Alejandra Salazar 1–6 / 4–6 Spain Beatriz Gonzaléz
Argentina Delfina Brea		 [7]
3. 03/09/2023 Sweden Malmö Open 1000 Spain Alejandra Salazar 4–6 / 3–6 Spain Beatriz Gonzaléz
Argentina Delfina Brea

Premier Padel (2022–Present)

Finals

N.º Date Tournament Partner Result Opponents in the final Career title No.
4. 10/12/2023 Italy Milan P1 Spain Alejandra Salazar 0–6 / 6–7 Spain Beatriz Gonzaléz
Argentina Delfina Brea		 [8]
5. 24/03/2024 Mexico Acapulco P1 Argentina Virginea Riera 3–6 / 4–6 Argentina Claudia Jensen
Spain Jessica Castelló		 [10][21]
6. 07/07/2024 Italy Genoa P2 Spain Marta Ortega 6–3 / 7–6 Spain Ariana Sánchez
Spain Paula Josemaría		 1st[11]
7. 04/08/2024 Finland Finland P2 Spain Marta Ortega 3–6 / 1–6 Spain Ariana Sánchez
Spain Paula Josemaría		 [12]
8. 26/10/2024 Egypt Giza P2 Spain Marta Ortega 6–4 / 6–2 Spain Alejandra Salazar
Spain Jessica Castelló		 2nd[13][22]
9. 01/12/2024 Mexico Mexico Major Spain Marta Ortega 7–6 / 1–6 / 4–6 Spain Claudia Fernández
Spain Gemma Triay		 [14]
10. 16/03/2025 Mexico Cancún P2 Spain Marta Ortega 3–6 / 1–6 Argentina Delfina Brea
Spain Gemma Triay		 [23][24]
11. 06/07/2025 France Bordeaux P2 Spain Andrea Ustero 7–5 / 2–6 / 6–2 Spain Beatriz Caldera
Spain Carmen Goenaga		 3rd[25][17]
12. 14/06/2026 Spain Valencia P1 Spain Claudia Fernández 4–6 / 6–3 / 2–6 Spain Ariana Sánchez
Spain Andrea Ustero		 [26][27]

Secondary circuits and titles

  Win   Draw   Loss

Finals

N.º Date Tournament Partner Result Opponents in the final Career title No.
13. 26/01/2020 Spain FIP Star Burriana Argentina Virginea Riera — — 4th[28]
14. 01/11/2020 Spain FIP Star Elche Argentina Virginea Riera — — [28]
15. 08/11/2020 Spain FIP Star Gran Canaria Argentina Virginea Riera — — 5th[28]
16. 20/12/2020 Italy Cupra FIP Finals 2020 Argentina Virginea Riera 7–5 / 6–2 Spain Anna Cortiles
Spain Jessica Castelló		 6th[28]
17. 11/09/2022 Italy FIP Promotion Master Vpc Spain Marta Talavan 6–0 / 6–2 Spain Nuria Rodriguez
Spain Teresa Navarro		 7th[28]

Finals

N.º Date Tournament Partner Result Opponents in the final Career title No.
18. 03/10/2021 Spain Albacete Challenger Portugal Ana Catarina Nogueira 3–6 / 7–6 / 6–3 Spain Beatriz Caldera
Spain Carmen Goenaga		 8th[28]
19. 07/05/2023 Spain Alicante Open 500 Spain Marta Ortega 7–6 / 7–6 Spain Tamara Icardo
Argentina Virginea Riera		 9th[28]

References

  1. 1 2 "Sofia Araujo FIP Profiel". FIP.
  2. ↑ "Tennis Abstract: Sofia Araújo ATP Match Results, Splits, and Analysis". www.tennisabstract.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  3. ↑ "Portugal Open: Dupla portuguesa de saída". Record (in Portuguese). 30 April 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
  4. ↑ "Sofia Araújo, a 'Leoa de Lisboa' que está no topo do mundo do padel". Abola.
  5. 1 2 "Sofia Araújo considerada a "jogadora revelação" do WPT 2020". Público.
  6. 1 2 "Sanyo y Tapia, campeones del Danish Padel Open 2022". Mundo Deportivo.
  7. 1 2 "Bea y Delfi logran su cuarto título del año en Finlandia". Marca.
  8. 1 2 "Los Uno ganan en Milán algo más que una final". Mundo Deportivo.
  9. ↑ "Galán-Lebrón y Brea-González se coronan en Milán". Marca.
  10. 1 2 "Claudia Jensen y Jess Castelló ganan su primer título de Premier Padel en Acapulco". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish).
  11. 1 2 "Sofia Araújo é a primeira atleta portuguesa a conquistar um torneio do Premier Padel". Record.
  12. 1 2 "Ari Sánchez y Paula Josemaría hacen historia en el Finland Premier Padel P2 y levantan su título 33". Mundo Deportivo.
  13. 1 2 "Marta Ortega y Sofi Araujo levantan su segundo torneo del año". AS.
  14. 1 2 "Gemma Triay y Claudia Fernández se coronan en Acapulco". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish).
  15. ↑ "Oficial: se separa la pareja más prometedora de Premier Padel". Mundo Deportivo.
  16. ↑ "Marta Ortega, tras su separación con Sofi Araújo: "En los últimos torneos no éramos las mismas"". Mundo Deportivo.
  17. 1 2 "¡Andrea Ustero y Sofi Araújo logran su primer título para tocar el cielo en Burdeos!". Mundo Deportivo.
  18. ↑ "Gemma Triay y Delfi Brea provocan un terremoto". AS.
  19. ↑ "Claudia Fernández y Bea González, las Maestras del año". AS.
  20. ↑ "La malagueña Bea González y Marta Ortega ganan el Open de Dinamarca de pádel". Canal Sur.
  21. ↑ "Claudia Jensen y Jess Castelló ganan su primer título de Premier Padel en Acapulco". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish).
  22. ↑ "Martita Ortega y Sofia Araújo se coronan como las primeras reinas de Premier Padel en Egipto". Mundo Deportivo.
  23. ↑ "Exhibición de Gemma Triay y Delfi Brea en Cancún, que completaron el torneo perfecto". Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish).
  24. ↑ "Stupaczuk-Lebrón y Gemma-Delfi, campeones en Cancún". AS.
  25. ↑ "Tapia y Coello se toman la revancha de Roma ante Chingotto y Galán". AS.
  26. ↑ "Ari Sánchez y Andrea Ustero se reivindican en Valencia y mandan un mensaje contundente a las favoritas". Mundo Deportivo.
  27. ↑ "Ari Sánchez y Andrea Ustero conquistan Valencia y suman su segundo título del año". Sport.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sofi Finals". FIP.
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