World number 107 beats Malek Jaziri in Estoril

Gastão Elias ended a run of bad luck in the only Portuguese event on the ATP circuit this week. After being eliminated in the first round on the last two occasions, Elias beat Malek Jaziri 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 in this year's opener.

Alvalade tennis star supporting Champs Academy with the auction of his top-100 ATP racket

In an effort to raise funds for the Champs Academy, a charity which works with around 150 youths from the age of 6 to 18, Gastão Elias will auction off the racket which he used to earn a place in the ATP World top-100.

"It was one of those ideas that just comes out of nowhere. I asked Gastão to work with us by donating something with has a historic meaning for Portuguese tennis. Only five rackets have broken into the male top-100 in Portugal, so it means a lot. Gastão accepted straight away", affirmed the auction organiser Pedro Carvalho.

Bids can be made through the website www.esolidar.com.

Passing the 600€ mark is one of the organisation's objectives, affirmed Carvalho: "Right now the highest bid is at 350€. In our last auction, just before the Millennium Estoril Open, we raised around 600€ with a signed shirt from the Davis Cup team. We would like to beat that this time."

Sporting tennis star unable to get the better of the American Steve Johnson

Gastão Elias' defeat at the hands of Steve Johnson ended Portugal's tennis medal hopes in Rio 2016 this week, after João Sousa lost out to Del Potro earlier on.

The Alvalade tennis star (ranked 60th in the ATP) was unable to get the best of the world number 20, losing out 6-3 6-4 in an hour of play.