MAIOR TORNEIO DE T&Eacute;NIS PORTUGU&Ecirc;S ANUNCIA DATA PARA 2025
<ul>
<li>Acordo com Millennium bcp como title sponsor at&eacute; 2027</li>
<li>Millennium Estoril Open 2025 realiza-se de 26 de abril a 4 de maio</li>
<li>Organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o garante solu&ccedil;&atilde;o com ATP Tour para os pr&oacute;ximos tr&ecirc;s anos</li>
</ul>
A 3LOVE, entidade organizadora do Millennium Estoril Open, anunciou em simult&acirc;neo a renova&ccedil;&atilde;o do acordo com o Millennium bcp enquanto title sponsor do maior evento ten&iacute;stico portugu&ecirc;s &mdash; assinado no emblem&aacute;tico edif&iacute;cio onde se localizam o N&uacute;cleo Arqueol&oacute;gico da Rua dos Correeiros e a Funda&ccedil;&atilde;o Millennium bcp &mdash; e a data de realiza&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova no calend&aacute;rio de 2025. Os organizadores salientam o apoio do Millennium bcp num momento cr&iacute;tico para a perman&ecirc;ncia do torneio em Portugal, como ali&aacute;s j&aacute; tinha sucedido no tempo da pandemia. O Millennium bcp demonstra uma vez mais que est&aacute; com os seus parceiros nos momentos mais desafiantes sempre que se preserva a confian&ccedil;a, como &eacute; o caso, na vis&atilde;o, na lideran&ccedil;a, no rigor e na capacidade de execu&ccedil;&atilde;o dos empres&aacute;rios e gestores.
No pr&oacute;ximo ano, o Millennium Estoril Open jogar-se-&aacute; de 26 de abril a 4 de maio no palco que tem sido o seu desde a primeira edi&ccedil;&atilde;o em 2015: o Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, no concelho de Cascais. Excecionalmente, em 2025 ser&aacute; um ATP 175, voltando em 2026 e 2027 &agrave; sua categoria de ATP 250.
&laquo;&Eacute; com grande orgulho que anuncio a renova&ccedil;&atilde;o do acordo de parceria com o Millennium bcp para os pr&oacute;ximos tr&ecirc;s anos e a oficializa&ccedil;&atilde;o da data no calend&aacute;rio de 2025&raquo;, refere Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o, diretor do torneio e s&oacute;cio-gerente da 3LOVE. &laquo;O Millennium bcp tem estado connosco desde a primeira hora e foi sempre fundamental para a identidade do projeto. Estamos muito motivados para refor&ccedil;ar esta parceria de enorme sucesso na proje&ccedil;&atilde;o do torneio para o futuro, sempre com o intuito de continuar, em cada edi&ccedil;&atilde;o, a melhorar e inovar todas as &aacute;reas do evento&raquo;.
Miguel Maya, CEO do Millennium bcp, salienta que &laquo;&Eacute; com muita satisfa&ccedil;&atilde;o que o Millennium bcp renova por mais tr&ecirc;s anos o seu apoio ao Millennium Estoril Open, um torneio de refer&ecirc;ncia tanto no panorama dos eventos desportivos que s&atilde;o organizados em Portugal, como no panorama global do t&eacute;nis, tendo j&aacute; trazido a Portugal grandes nomes desta modalidade. O t&eacute;nis &eacute; reconhecidamente um desporto de respeito pelos outros e de supera&ccedil;&atilde;o, e o Millennium bcp rev&ecirc;-se inteiramente nesses valores. Desejo o maior sucesso para o evento em 2025 e nos anos seguintes&raquo;.
Para al&eacute;m da presen&ccedil;a de grandes estrelas do t&eacute;nis internacional, o diretor do maior torneio portugu&ecirc;s acredita que tamb&eacute;m contar&aacute; com excelentes presta&ccedil;&otilde;es dos melhores tenistas lusos &mdash; que atualmente atravessam um excelente momento de forma, como Nuno Borges (30&ordm; ATP e detentor de dois t&iacute;tulos ATP 175), Henrique Rocha (que recentemente ganhou ao n&ordm;9 do mundo Casper Ruud na Ta&ccedil;a Davis) e Jaime Faria, atual n&ordm;2 nacional.
Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o acrescenta ainda que &laquo;em 2025, sendo o nosso torneio um de apenas cinco ATP 175 no mundo, aproveitar&aacute; o facto de ser jogado na segunda semana do Masters 1000 de Madrid, o que nos permitir&aacute; ter, seguramente, um elenco de grande qualidade, n&atilde;o s&oacute; pela proximidade geogr&aacute;fica, mas tamb&eacute;m pelo hist&oacute;rico dos &uacute;ltimos dois anos &mdash; em que v&aacute;rios jogadores do top 20 e top 30 mundial jogaram esta categoria de torneios nesta semana. Vamos manter os elevados padr&otilde;es de qualidade que t&ecirc;m feito do Millennium Estoril Open o evento de refer&ecirc;ncia no contexto socio-desportivo em Portugal&raquo;.
O evento, que ganhou o pr&eacute;mio Marketeer 2024 na categoria de Arte, Cultura e Entretenimento, ter&aacute;, como sempre, enorme cobertura medi&aacute;tica tamb&eacute;m garantida pelos media partners TVI/CNN Portugal, Eurosport e RFM, bem como uma forte transmiss&atilde;o televisiva para os quatro cantos do mundo.
O Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; o mais importante e prestigiado evento desportivo anualmente realizado em Portugal, sendo igualmente uma refer&ecirc;ncia incontorn&aacute;vel na agenda social e corporativa do pa&iacute;s, afirmando-se como um acontecimento privilegiado para neg&oacute;cios, diplomacia econ&oacute;mica, rela&ccedil;&otilde;es-p&uacute;blicas e networking.
Em 2024, e para al&eacute;m das mais de 43&nbsp;mil pessoas que se deslocaram ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril para assistir ao melhor t&eacute;nis em terra batida, o torneio contou igualmente com mais de 1500 horas de transmiss&atilde;o televisiva em todo o mundo e foi valorizado em 108 milh&otilde;es de euros de Global Sponsorship Value e em 50 milh&otilde;es de euros de National Sponsorship Value. A campanha promocional de 2024 foi valorizada em mais de seis milh&otilde;es de euros, fruto das fortes parceiras com a TVI/CNN Portugal, Eurosport, RFM, JCDecaux e Spectacolor. Tamb&eacute;m nas redes sociais se bateram recordes, tendo sido impactadas mais de 60 milh&otilde;es de contas em todo o mundo com conte&uacute;dos do Millennium Estoril Open.

MILLENNIUM BCP RENOVA PATROCÍNIO  POR MAIS TRÊS ANOS

Hubert Hurkacz made history as the first Polish player to win an ATP Tour title on clay since Wojtek Fibak in 1981.
Hurkacz ended a 40-year wait for the Polish fans with a dominant display, beating Pedro Martinez in Sunday&rsquo;s grand final 6-3, 6-4.
This is the Polish champion&rsquo;s eighth title on tour and his first since lifting the Shanghai Masters trophy in October 2023.
&ldquo;Definitely a pleasant surprise,&rdquo; said Hurkacz after the win. &ldquo;Coming into each week, you hope you're going to be playing in the finals. Obviously, it's the first week on clay, and to be honest, the first couple of days were really, really difficult. I wasn't feeling comfortable on clay at all, and I just had to accept it and just kept battling.&rdquo;
Contesting his first clay court final, Hurkacz played a flawless match. He faced zero breakpoints throughout the encounter and dominated on serve, firing an astonishing 15 aces past Martinez.
&ldquo;Today, he put 15 aces past me. I didn't have a chance on the return games,&rdquo; Martinez said after the defeat. &ldquo;I'm not a big server like him. Sometimes I get broken in the sets, but I normally do a lot to [threaten] the other opponents,&rdquo; he added.
Drained by yesterday&rsquo;s three-hour semi-final, Martinez came out a different player than the one who bullied Casper Ruud with dominant groundstrokes and clever shotmaking. Despite flashes of brilliance, the Spaniard &ndash; with his right leg taped up &ndash; struggled against a confident opponent.
&ldquo;Today, I didn't start well in both sets&rdquo; Martinez said. &ldquo;But after that, I didn't get a chance to break him back. I had no break points. He's the deserved winner because he played better than me.&rdquo;
Despite the loss, Martinez played a successful tournament. Beating Ruud in his semi-final match, the Spaniard scored the biggest career win. &ldquo;I'm happy with the tournament,&rdquo; Martinez said. &ldquo;Now, I&rsquo;m a little bit sad because once you are in the final, playing at a good level, you are always hoping for the victory. I gave my best. He deserved to win today,&rdquo; Martinez summed up.
Brilliant on serve, Hurkacz also caused Martinez plenty of trouble on the receiving end. He broke early in the first set at 1-1, sending a down-the-line backhand off a weak second serve from Martinez, and kept control of the match. Throughout the set, Hurkacz won 20 out of 24 points he played on serve, winning almost half of all his points on return.
&ldquo;I definitely feel a lot more comfortable on clay, and I think my game is getting in a really good shape, and still there are things to work on,&rdquo; Hurkacz said.
&ldquo;I was able to keep building my game,&rdquo; the Pole added. &ldquo;[Over the week] I was getting more comfortable on clay and playing better tennis. I was adapting from the baseline and also managing my emotions [better].&rdquo;
Hurkacz kept up the intensity in the second set as he broke in the first game to love. The only real trouble for the Pole came at 1-0 when Martinez managed to draw two errors out of his opponent, and briefly suggested the possibility of a comeback. At 0-30, Hurkacz blasted an ace past hapless Martinez. He followed it up with yet another down-the-line backhand winner and consequently held.
As the match drew closer to its conclusion, it started to resemble exhibition tennis. On one of the points, Martinez played a skilful &lsquo;tweener&rsquo;, easily put away by Hurkacz. The Spaniard continued to delight the adoring Portuguese public as he did a pirouette before hitting an overhead smash. Hurkacz picked up on the atmosphere and responded with a jumping overhead smash himself. Overjoyed, the crowds cheered.
Despite the brief period of levity, Hurkacz never took his eyes off the prize. His shots confident, movement astute, the Polish champion fittingly finished the match with another ace, fist-pumping the air in celebration.
&ldquo;Definitely winning a clay court title is a surprise to me, so I&rsquo;m happy with that,&rdquo; the Polish No 1 said. Becoming one of the 11 active players on tour with tournament wins on all three surfaces, Hurkacz continues to dream big. &ldquo;As a tennis player, you always dream of winning Grand Slams,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That's always been one of my goals since I was a kid, and I would love to do that.&rdquo;
Hurkacz joins Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud as the third player ranked inside the top 10 to lift the Millennium Estoril Open trophy.
Hurkacz&rsquo;s triumph concludes yet another successful Millennium Estoril Open. Adored by the public and beloved by the players, the tournament continues to deliver an unmatched tennis experience. We hope to see everyone again next year. At&eacute; j&aacute;, Portugal!

DAY 9 - HURKACZ MAKES HISTORY IN ESTORIL

Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov are the 2024 Millennium Estoril champions in doubles.
The fourth-seeded pair did not drop a set en route to the trophy. In the final, they defeated the tournament&rsquo;s second seed, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul, 7-5, 6-2.
This was the teams&rsquo; second meeting after the quarter-finals on the hard courts of Acapulco, Mexico, where Escobar and Nedovyesov won 6-4, 6-1, earlier this year.
Since their debut at an ATP Tour 250 tournament in &lsquo;s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in 2023, Escobar and Nedovyesov have amassed a win record of 29-18 on tour level. Also in 2023, they won titles in Bastad, Sweden and Sofia, Bulgaria, adding their third at this year&rsquo;s Millennium Estoril Open in five finals.
Doumbia and Reboul came into the tournament seeded number two. The pair made their professional debut nine years ago, in 2015, at a Futures tournament in Algeria. In 2021, they played their first ATP Tour event at the 2021 Roland Garros and won their first ATP Tour title in 2023 in Chengdu, China. They hold a 58-49 win record on tour.
Playing their first match on Estadio Millennium in this campaign, Doumbia and Reboul came up against more in-form opponents, and the experienced French pair found themselves under fire from the start.
Escobar and Nedovyesov peppered their opponents with four breakpoints in the match's first game. The French pair resisted but could not do so in the following game, losing the deciding point. They recovered the deficit immediately, converting their third breakpoint. At 3-3 in the first set, Escobar and Nedovyesov broke again, but once more, they surrendered a break right after. They saved a set point when serving at 4-5 and claimed the first set, saving further three breakpoints at 6-5.
In the second set, Escobar and Nedovyesov carried with the momentum. They broke in the first game and again for 4-1. With a 5-2 lead, their victory appeared inevitable, and despite being unable to convert four match points on return, they were soon victorious.
With the title, Escobar and Nedovyesov move up six places in this year&rsquo;s doubles race and will hope that their excellent form can carry them to the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

DAY 9 - THIRD DOUBLES TROPHY FOR ESCOBAR AND NEDOVYESOV

Primeira meia-final em terra batida, primeira final e a primeiro t&iacute;tulo. Hubert Hurkacz venceu o oitavo t&iacute;tulo ATP da carreira no Millennium Estoril Open, o primeiro de 2024 e, sobretudo, o primeiro em terra batida.
Sete anos depois de ter amealhado um trof&eacute;u ITF em Lisboa (Racket Centre), o d&eacute;cimo melhor tenista do mundo (ser&aacute; oitavo esta segunda-feira, o que vai igualar o m&aacute;ximo que j&aacute; atingiu) superou o espanhol Pedro Martinez (77.&ordm;, antigo top 40 e 60.&ordm; na pr&oacute;xima atualiza&ccedil;&atilde;o) por 6-3 e 6-4 em 1h27.
Numa final de sentido &uacute;nico, muito devido ao facto de Martinez estar muitos furos abaixo fisicamente depois da estrondosa vit&oacute;ria de 3h08 sobre Casper Ruud na v&eacute;spera, o polaco de 1,96m nem sequer enfrentou um ponto de break em todo o encontro (11 pontos perdidos no servi&ccedil;o) e terminou a decis&atilde;o com 15 ases e uma quebra de servi&ccedil;o cir&uacute;rgica em cada parcial, sempre nas fases iniciais.&nbsp;
Com este t&iacute;tulo, Hurkacz torna-se no primeiro tenista do seu pa&iacute;s a conquistar um t&iacute;tulo ATP em terra batida desde 1981 e torna-se tamb&eacute;m no terceiro jogador, em nove edil&otilde;es, entre os 10 primeiros do ranking a vencer o Millennium Estoril Open.
Parab&eacute;ns, Hubi!&nbsp;

Hubert Hurkacz vence primeiro título ATP em terra batida no Millennium Estoril

Na primeira de duas finais do derradeiro dia da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, Gonzalo Escobar e Aleksandr Nedovyesov bateram os franceses Sadio Doumbia e Fabien Reboul por 7-5 e 6-2.
Os quartos favoritos ao t&iacute;tulo superaram os segundos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie em 1h41, num duelo com imensos pontos de break (30), anormal para a variante, e no qual o par do Equador e do Cazaquist&atilde;o esteve sempre na frente e disp&ocirc;s de mais chances (17).
A &uacute;nica exce&ccedil;&atilde;o no dom&iacute;nio &nbsp;- muito importante, para tal, a resposta ao servi&ccedil;o (49% de pontos amealhados) - deu-se no d&eacute;cimo jogo do primeiro parcial. Nessa ocasi&atilde;o, Escobar anulou um set point com um forte servi&ccedil;o de canhoto ao corpo de Reboul.
Com as quatro vit&oacute;rias no Clube de T&eacute;ns do Estoril, Gonzalo Escobar (35 anos) e Aleksandr Nedovyeson (37) somam agora oito triunfo consecutivos j&aacute; que no passado s&aacute;bado venceram o Challenger de Girona (uma prova ganha em singulares por Pedro Martinez, que dentro de instantes disputa a final de singulares face a Hubert Hurkacz).&nbsp;
Para Escobar, o maior torneio do t&eacute;nis nacional &eacute; o sexto a n&iacute;vel ATP, o dobro dos do parceiro que s&oacute; conhece o sabor do sucesso com o equatoriano, isto porque o Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; o terceiro t&iacute;tulo no circuito principal para a dupla. Al&eacute;m disso, cederam em tr&ecirc;s finais, uma delas no torneio de Los Cabos na presente &eacute;poca.
Parab&eacute;ns ao campe&otilde;es!

Gonzalo Escobar e Aleksandr Nedovyesov vencem nona edição do Millennium Estoril Open

Pedro Martinez defied all expectations as he outlasted the defending champion, Casper Ruud, in a three-hour six-minute marathon.
The talented Spaniard scored the biggest win of his career, beating Ruud 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a Millenium Estoril Open semi-final for the ages.
Martinez reached his third ATP Tour final in style. Having failed to defeat an opponent ranked inside the top 10 on six previous occasions, he recorded the biggest win of his career.
All eyes were on Ruud as he stepped on the court in a bid to retain the Millennium Estoril Open title. However, losing just eight games in the first two matches, he ran into a much more formidable opponent in Martinez. The Spaniard outmuscled Ruud in multiple rallies, ferociously defending points that were clear winners for the Norwegian in previous rounds. He forced Ruud to drop deep behind the baseline, denying him time and space with the power and depth of his shots.
Martinez surprised his opponent in the first set with aggressive shotmaking and athletic movement. He broke at 2-2 and held on to the lead, winning the first set 6-4.
&ldquo;I [knew] had to take care of that [his forehand],&rdquo; Martinez said after the win. &ldquo;I played very aggressively. I tried to go for the points because if you give Casper time on the forehand, he kills you, and that's what I tried to do.&rdquo;
Ruud had opportunities to fight back in the second set, forcing Martinez to defend two breakpoints at 2-1. He finally broke at 4-3, firing an outlandish crosscourt forehand return that whizzed past the approaching Spaniard.
The encounter turned into an all-out fight &ndash; both players using their physicality to impose themselves on the match. Exchanges got longer, grunts louder, and each point more tense. Despite giving up a break when serving at 5-3, Ruud levelled the match soon after. In the following game &ndash; after several long rallies with Martinez on serve &ndash; Ruud saw three set points. He converted the first one, sailing a tight-angled backhand return past the foraying Spaniard.
At 1-1 in the third set, Martinez broke again. He kept up the intensity which won him the first set and continued drawing errors from Ruud with deft shotmaking. He held to love in his next service game and followed it up with another break.
At 4-1, Ruud left the court for a medical timeout, and all hope seemed lost for the Norwegian. But he refused to give up. Seemingly running on the power of belief alone, Ruud saved a match point when serving for 2-5, and followed it up with an impressive game, saving two further match points and converting the sixth breakpoint. He held again, bringing the score up to 4-5, but could not stop Martinez from securing the biggest win of the Spaniard&rsquo;s career in the next game.
&ldquo;I went for the game at 5-2, but I couldn't close it,&rdquo; Martinez said. &ldquo;I'm very happy that I could get a win in the end. I tried to use my backhand down the line because he always wanted to run around [the ball to hit] the forehand.
&ldquo;I knew it was a weapon I could use and I'm very happy that I could make it,&rdquo; he added.
In the grand final tomorrow, Martinez will face another top-10 opponent in Hubert Hurkacz for the 2024 Millennium Estoril trophy.
&ldquo;Hubi has such a good serve,&rdquo; Martinez said about Hurkacz. &ldquo;It's going to be a really tough match. If I want to win, I have to again play my best, for sure. Let's see what happens.&rdquo;
Earlier in the day, Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul booked a place in the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open final by defeating Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn in straight sets. The French pair won 6-3, 7-6(3) against their unseeded opponents and will play Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesovin tomorrow&rsquo;s match.
Doumbia and Reboul dominated on serve and were more clinical in defence, saving six out of seven breakpoints faced. They broke their opponents early in the first set and held on to the advantage. They again struck first in the second set but lost the deciding point at deuce when serving for the match. Arneodo and Weissborn tied the set but could not continue their momentum in the tiebreak.
Doumbia and Reboul advance to their fifth ATP Tour final, having won ATP Tour 250 titles in Chengdu, China in September 2023 and Montpellier, France in January of this year. They continue their impressive form which, in March 2024, saw them achieve their career-high rankings in doubles, 30 and 31 respectively.
Following the day's second semi-final, a ceremony was held in honour of Joao Sousa, celebrating the Portuguese tennis legend&rsquo;s achievements and career.
Sousa, who played the last professional match of his career earlier in the week, stepped on the Estadio Millenium court to thundering applause. The Portuguese was presented with a commemorative Millennium Estoril Open trophy and received heartwarming video messages from several prominent figures from the world of tennis, sport and other arenas. Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Portuguese football coach Jose Mourinho and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa were just a few of the personalities who sent Sousa their best wishes.

DAY 8 - DEFENDING CHAMPION RUUD OUT IN SURPRISE EXIT

Num dos grandes duelos desta edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, Pedro Martinez (77.&ordm; ATP) vestiu o fato de gala e bateu Casper Ruud (oitavo) por 6-4, 4-6 e 6-4 em 3h08 para atingir a terceira final no circuito maior, primeiro no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
Com uma enxurrada de winners, o espanhol de 26 anos (antigo top 40) apostou numa agressividade constante para superar um oponente do top 10 pela primeira vez na carreira, depois de seis derrotas frente a essa elite. Muitas subidas &agrave; rede, amorties, paralelas (em especial de esquerda), respostas ao servi&ccedil;o profundas e velozes, Martinez utilizou todo o card&aacute;pio ofensivo ao seu dispor para ultrapassar um dos melhores do mundo em terra batida.
Num duelo terminado j&aacute; perto das 21 horas e que fez as del&iacute;cias dos presentes, o atual n&uacute;mero cinco espanhol (vai regressar aos 60 melhores do mundo ao marcar presen&ccedil;a na final e poder&aacute; ficar perto do top 50 novamente se vencer o t&iacute;tulo), agora numa s&eacute;rie de nove triunfos consecutivos (amealhou o Challenger de Girona na semana anterior), impediu a revalida&ccedil;&atilde;o do trof&eacute;u por parte do noruegu&ecirc;s, pelo que o Millennium Estoril Open vai continuar sem um bicampe&atilde;o.
Pedro Martinez tornou-se, assim, no quarto espanhol a disputar a final do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s. A decis&atilde;o deste domingo ser&aacute; a terceira da carreira a n&iacute;vel ATP (primeira desde fevereiro de 2022) e para arrecadar o segundo trof&eacute;u neste n&iacute;vel ter&aacute; de vencer Hubert hurkacz, outro tenista dentro dos 10 melhores do mundo e contra quem nunca conseguiu vencer um embate em tr&ecirc;s compromissos anteriores entre ambos.

Pedro Martinez derrota campeão em título e conquista maior triunfo da carreira

Hubert Hurkacz booked his first-ever ATP Tour final on clay, beating Cristian Garin 3-6, 6-3, 3-6.
Boasting a 7-2 record in ATP Tour finals, Hurkacz earned himself a spot in his 10th final, first on clay. Against Cristian Garin, he played his 63rd match against opponents outside the top 100 of ATP rankings, losing just 12 times.
&ldquo;I've definitely been competing really well [here], and that was really crucial,&rdquo; Hurkacz said after the win. &ldquo;I think from each match, I'm getting better on the surface, getting more used to it, and playing some better tennis.&rdquo;
Over the years, Hurkacz has struggled to adapt his game to clay courts. With two Masters 1000 titles on hard courts and a Wimbledon semi-final run in 2021 &ndash; when he memorably beat Roger Federer on the Centre Court &ndash; Hurkacz quickly climbed the rankings into the top 10. However, until now, clay has been somewhat of the kryptonite for the Polish No 1.
&ldquo;I definitely started the week not feeling comfortable at all and just struggling with sliding and everything,&rdquo; Hurkacz said. &ldquo;Each match, I think, is getting slowly better.&rdquo;
Hurkacz started the match strongly, surging to a 3-0 lead. He saved four breakpoints en route to winning the first set, including two in the final game.
In the second set, Garin reverted the score, and himself started with a break and two holds. From that point on, Hurkacz steadied his game, but he could not seriously threaten his opponent, allowing Garin to level the match.
Hurkacz regrouped in the third. He broke Garin twice for a quick 5-1 lead, and despite a minor wobble in form when he failed to close out the match on his serve right after, he did so at the second opportunity.
&ldquo;The atmosphere is amazing here,&rdquo; Hurkacz said when asked about his Millennium Estoril Open experience. &ldquo;There are so many people around, and they definitely enjoy the tournament. The tournament director [Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o] is doing a fantastic job,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;[It&rsquo;s great] for the players, and hopefully for the fans [too],&rdquo; the Polish number one added. &ldquo;I don't experience it from the fan perspective, but for the players, he [the director] is doing a really fantastic job, and it's great to be here.&rdquo;
In the grand final, Hurkacz will face the winner of Casper Ruud versus Pedro Martinez.
The defending champions Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen end their Millennium Estoril Open doubles title defence in the semi-final. The top-seeded pair suffered a straight-set defeat to Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov, losing 6-2, 6-4.
Escobar and Nedovyesov extend their winning streak as a pair to seven matches and will contest a second final in a row after winning the Girona Challenger earlier in March.
Playing their first match of the 2024 campaign on the Estadio Millenium, the pair rose to the occasion. They won 89% of the points on the first serve and broke the defending champions thrice. Escobar and Nedovyesov faced zero breakpoints throughout the two sets and are yet to lose one this year, having defended all seven.
Gille and Vliegen are an established doubles pair on tour. They won seven ATP Tour 250 titles together since their first in 2019 in B&aring;stad, Sweden. However, the experienced pair faced more in-form opponents on the day and could not mount a challenge.
Escobar and Nedovyesov booked a place in their sixth ATP Tour final. They will play against the day&rsquo;s second semi-final winners, Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn versus Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.

DAY 8 - FIRST CLAY FINAL FOR HURKACZ

O polaco Hubert Hurkacz (10.&ordm; ATP) garantiu este s&aacute;bado o acesso &agrave; primeira final em terra batida no principal circuito em pleno Millennium Estoril Open. A terceira vit&oacute;ria da semana deu-se &agrave;s custas do chileno Cristian Garin (112.&ordm;), carrasco de Nuno Borges na v&eacute;spera, com os parciais de 6-3, 3-6 e 6-3 em 1h59.
Na primeira semifinal ATP na superf&iacute;cie, o gigante de 1,96m, segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, arrecadou 75% dos pontos com o primeiro servi&ccedil;o e reagiu da melhor forma &agrave; ced&ecirc;ncia do segundo parcial ao entrar de forma arrasadora na decis&atilde;o para n&atilde;o mais largar a vantagem.
Sete anos depois de conquistar um t&iacute;tulo ITF em Lisboa (Racket Centre), Hurkacz regressa a uma final em solo nacional. A decis&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open ser&aacute; a d&eacute;cima a n&iacute;vel ATP (7-2 em finais) e primeira na presente temporada. O advers&aacute;rio ser&aacute; o espanhol Pedro Martinez, contra quem venceu tr&ecirc;s vezes em tr&ecirc;s duelos disputados entre ambos.
Aconte&ccedil;a o que acontecer, o tenista de 27 anos tem garantida a ascens&atilde;o ao oitavo posto do ranking, o que vai igualar o seu m&aacute;ximo j&aacute; atingido.

Hubert Hurkacz carimba acesso à primeira final ATP em terra batida 

A final de pares do Millennium Estoril Open vai ser discutida entre Gonzalo Escobar/Aleksandr Nedovyesov e Sadio Doumbia/Fabien Reboul, duas duplas que se estreiam na decis&atilde;o do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis organizado em Portugal.
Os primeiros a assegurarem um lugar no encontro de atribui&ccedil;&atilde;o do t&iacute;tulo foram Escobar e Nedovyesov. O equatoriano e o cazaque derrotaram os campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo, os belgas Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen, por 6-2 e 6-4 em pleno Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
Respetivamente 53.&ordm; e 44.&ordm; classificados na hierarquia da variante, Escobar e Nedovyesov j&aacute; conquistaram dois t&iacute;tulos lado a lado, ambos em 2023: primeiro na terra batida de Bastad, depois no piso r&aacute;pido de S&oacute;fia.
Depois, j&aacute; no Court Cascais, Doumbia e Reboul confirmaram o estatuto de segundos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie com um triunfo por 6-3 e 7-6(3) sobre o monegasco Romain Arneodo e o austr&iacute;aco Sam Weissborn.
Os dois franceses (32.&ordm; e 33.&ordm; no&nbsp;ranking) perseguem o terceiro t&iacute;tulo ao mais alto n&iacute;vel, depois de Chengdu em 2023 e de Montpellier j&aacute; em 2024, e o segundo em Portugal, pois venceram um Challenger em Oeiras na temporada de 2022.
A final de pares da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open est&aacute; agendada para as 12h30 de domingo no Est&aacute;dio Millennium.

Escobar/Nedovyesov e Doumbia/Reboul marcam final de estreantes no Millennium Estoril Open

Despedida João Sousa

Farewell João Sousa 

Casper Ruud took another step towards retaining his Millennium Estoril Open trophy with a robust 6-3, 6-2 win over Marton Fucsovics.
The last time the pair played each other was in a Challenger-level tournament in Budapest in 2017. Fucsovics emerged triumphant after beating the young Norwegian 6-0, 6-0.
Asked whether he recalls that match, Ruud answered with a smile. &ldquo;I remember for sure. Double bagel is not something you forget easily,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It's really funny because a few months after, we practised [together], and I lost again 6-0 in practice to him. It was three sets in a row that I lost 6-0. It&rsquo;s nice to get my revenge,&rdquo; he added.
It&rsquo;s fair to say that Ruud was a different player this time. He overpowered Fucsovics from the start, playing his brand of top spin-heavy game. He served confidently, losing just two points on serve in the entire set, and breaking Fucsovics once.
Dangerous off both wings from the baseline, Ruud spoke of adding another weapon to his arsenal. &ldquo;My serve is not my strongest shot, but I think it's a quick motion,&rdquo; explained the Norwegian. &ldquo;I have somewhat of a tricky serve to read every now and then. If I serve well with the first [serve], I feel like I get some free points because I can put off my opponents a bit with that quick motion.&rdquo;
Ruud broke in his first two opening games of the second set. At 0-3, Fucsovics asked for a medical timeout as he sought help for his left knee. Troubled by an injury, he fought bravely to stay in the match &ndash; occasionally drawing a round of applause with powerful forehands &ndash; but was unable to stage a comeback.
&ldquo;I've seen Marton play better. I know his top level,&rdquo; Ruud said after the match. &ldquo;Physically, he was maybe not there 100% today. That's tough and unfortunate for him,&rdquo; he added.
Ruud sets up a meeting with Pedro Martinez, who earlier today recorded a straight-set victory over lucky loser Richard Gasquet, winning 6-4, 6-4.
The Spaniard extends his winning streak to eight matches following a tournament victory in Girona Challenger 100 last week.
&ldquo;It was a good start of the season,&rdquo; Martinez said after the win. &ldquo;I made two semi-finals in the ATP Tour, one final and won one title in the Challenger, so I'm happy about that. I feel good, so I just want to continue this way.&rdquo;
Both players contested an uneven first set. Gasquet broke his opponent twice but himself suffered three breaks, ultimately losing 6-4. Martinez, a talented clay-courter, steadied his game in the second set, vastly improving on serve. He broke Gasquet at 1-1 and although he posed little danger to his opponent throughout the rest of the set, he faced none, having to use his second serve just six times.
Martinez reaches his fourth ATP Tour semi-final &ndash; all of which came on clay &ndash; where he will meet the defending champion, Casper Ruud.
&ldquo;I played a final [against him] in Kitzbuhel a couple of years ago. It was a tough one and I couldn't win [Ruud won 6-1, 4-6, 6-3],&rdquo; Martinez said about his next opponent. &ldquo;Hopefully, tomorrow, I get the chance against him.&rdquo;
Speaking about Ruud&rsquo;s game and how to combat it, Martinez highlighted his opponent&rsquo;s prodigious shotmaking. &ldquo;He's a guy who has a really big forehand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When he steps inside the court with the forehand, he's very dangerous. You have to be careful with that and try not to give him so much time with the forehand.&rdquo;
The top seed of the doubles draw, Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, fought back from down a set to score a combative 1-6, 6-3, 11-9 victory over Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop. Gille and Vliegen lost a quick first set before mounting a comeback in the second set, and deciding the match in a tightly-contested super tiebreak.
They book a place in tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-final where they will face fourth-seeded Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. Earlier today, Escobar and Nedovyesov came through a tough two-tiebreak battle against Victor Cornea and Petr Nouza, winning 7-6(6), 7-6(0).

DAY 7 - CASPER’S REVENGE

N&atilde;o um, mas dois: Casper Ruud e Hubert Hurkacz chegaram ao Millennium Estoril Open com estatuto de top 10 e confirmaram esse favoritismo para chegarem &agrave;s meias-finais.
O primeiro a faz&ecirc;-lo foi Hurkacz. Atualmente no 10.&ordm; lugar do&nbsp;ranking, o polaco desbravou terreno in&eacute;dito na carreira com uma vit&oacute;ria por 7-6(4) e 6-4 sobre o espanhol Pablo Llamas Ruiz, uma das sensa&ccedil;&otilde;es da prova ao passar pelo qualifying e duplicar o n&uacute;mero de vit&oacute;rias para alcan&ccedil;ar o melhor resultado da carreira.
Adepto de superf&iacute;cies r&aacute;pidas, o bom-gigante apurou-se para a 20.&ordf; meia-final individual, mas primeira no p&oacute; de tijolo, gra&ccedil;as a um duelo em que se destacou pela precis&atilde;o: para al&eacute;m de ter anulado os oito (!) pontos de&nbsp;break que enfrentou, pressionou o advers&aacute;rio nas fases finais e, depois de amea&ccedil;ar o&nbsp;break ao 4-4 do primeiro&nbsp;set, consumou-o no momento certo para ganhar a oportunidade de servir para o encontro.
Campe&atilde;o dos ATP Masters 1000 de Miami em 2021 e Xangai em 2023 (os dois maiores t&iacute;tulos entre os sete que comp&otilde;em o palmar&eacute;s), Hurkacz procura a 10.&ordf; final individual e a primeira do ano, tendo encontro marcado com Cristian Gar&iacute;n &mdash; o chileno que j&aacute; esteve no top 20 e que acabou com a campanha de Nuno Borges.
Ruud venceu pela segunda jornada consecutiva em sess&atilde;o noturna e novamente de forma autorit&aacute;ria. O campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo n&atilde;o perdeu tempo e desenvencilhou-se de Marton Fucsovics &mdash; uma das figuras da jornada anterior ao anular tr&ecirc;s match points para surpreender Gael Monfils &mdash; sem perder o servi&ccedil;o (tal como no dia anterior) para prolongar a s&eacute;rie de vit&oacute;rias no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
O noruegu&ecirc;s est&aacute; a viver o melhor in&iacute;cio de &eacute;poca da carreira e de regresso &agrave; superf&iacute;cie que mais alegrias lhe deu (nove dos 10 trof&eacute;us de campe&atilde;o foram erguidos em campos de terra batida e a ele juntam-se duas finais em Roland-Garros) deu mais um passo rumo ao objetivo de se tornar no primeiro bicampe&atilde;o do torneio.
Segue-se Pedro Mart&iacute;nez, um advers&aacute;rio que j&aacute; derrotou numa final (Kitzbuhel 2021). O espanhol chegou ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril com o trof&eacute;u do Challenger de Girona na bagagem e prolongou a s&eacute;rie vitoriosa com dois triunfos sobre jogadores que j&aacute; estiveram no top 10: primeiro o compatriota Roberto Bautista Agut, depois o ex-campe&atilde;o Richard Gasquet.
Com dois top 10 ainda em jogo, as meias-finais do Millennium Estoril Open desenrolam-se a partir das 15h.&nbsp;

Top 10 Ruud e Hurkacz abrilhantam meias-finais do Millennium Estoril Open

Home hero Nuno Borges made a dramatic exit from the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open losing 6-2, 7-6(3) to Cristian Garin in a controversy-filled quarter-final.
In a tense moment halfway through the match, Borges earned himself a breakpoint that would allow him to take a 4-2 lead in the second set if converted. After a short exchange of shots, an overeager fan disrupted the game by shouting Out. Borges played a looping forehand through the middle and appeared passive as Garin stepped inside the court to unleash a forehand. The shot landed wide, prompting protest from the Chilean. The chair umpire ruled that Borges interrupted the point by stopping play and awarded it to the Chilean.
&ldquo;I heard someone call it out, and I thought that the point was stopped &ndash; and he didn't move,&rdquo; said Garin about the incident. &ldquo;When we were discussing it after, he said that he didn't stop. But for me, he stopped because he went straight to see the mark,&rdquo; he added.
&ldquo;I don't know if it was right to re-play the point or give it to me,&rdquo; Garin said.
During the post-match press conference, Borges took a different view of the incident. &ldquo;I'm sure the referee made a mistake,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;These things happen. Unfortunately, it was in a special place for me, during a special match. And it has absolutely made a difference. I'm not going to lie.&rdquo;
A 10-minute break ensued after an ATP supervisor was called to court to rule on the incident. In the end, he decided to sustain the decision.
&ldquo;I honestly have no idea what went through the umpire&rsquo;s head,&rdquo; Borges said. &ldquo;By the discussion I was having [with the umpire], I really couldn't get a good idea why I lost that point and why it wasn't replayed. I have no idea.&rdquo;
The stadium erupted in pandemonium. Boos and whistles engulfed both players as Portuguese fans voiced their displeasure. The winter of discontent continued throughout the rest of the set, Garin&rsquo;s errors cheered and his double faults applauded. Despite the atmosphere, the Chilean showed remarkable resilience, keeping his cool as he survived an improbable 31-point game to hold serve and eventually win the match in two straight sets.
&ldquo;The atmosphere [after the incident] was crazy,&rdquo; Garin said after the match. &ldquo;I'm very proud of myself. The way that I took it, I kept very focused, and that was very good for me.&rdquo;
Garin, who made his Davis Cup debut for Chile in 2012, handled the pressure of playing in front of a hostile crowd with gusto. &ldquo;I have seen these things,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I've been playing in the Davis Cup for a long time, and it's not the first time it happened [to me]. I also understand [the fans&rsquo; reaction] because the people wanted Nuno to win, so I understand.&rdquo;
Asked whether any bad blood between the players followed, Borges dismissed the idea. &ldquo;He had enough to deal with the crowd,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think he could have come up and say, &lsquo;Let's replay the point&rsquo; because that was the right thing to do. But I can't blame him for not speaking up. Maybe I would have done the same. I don't know.&rdquo;
Earlier on Estadio Millennium, Hubert Hurkacz moved into his career-first semi-final on clay with a robust 7-6(4), 6-4 win over qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz.
&ldquo;I'm just trying to figure out my game so far, to be honest,&rdquo; Hurkacz said about his clay-court record. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m battling and trying to get more used to the clay, making better decisions and just competing.&rdquo;
With six breakpoints saved en route to the first set&rsquo;s tiebreak, Hurkacz played a confident game. He escaped danger multiple times, including a match point for his opponent, before upping his game to claim the first set. The Polish No 1 moved Llamas Ruiz around the court with deft shotmaking, adding frequent forays to the net into the mix.
&ldquo;[I&rsquo;m] definitely really happy with the performance,&rdquo; Hurkacz said after the win. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting more comfortable on clay. It&rsquo;s really important for me so I&rsquo;m pleased that I'll have an opportunity here in the semi-final tomorrow.&rdquo;
Llamas Ruiz, a good friend of Carlos Alcaraz, perhaps felt the occasion. Despite delighting the crowds with skill and power on multiple occasions, the young Spaniard was less decisive in the important points than his experienced opponent.
Hurkacz saved another three breakpoints at the onset of the second set before breaking Llamas Ruiz at 4-4.
&ldquo;I think that overall serve is not as effective [on clay] as it is on the other surfaces,&rdquo; said Hurkacz, who at 6&prime; 4&Prime; is one of the taller players on tour. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m used to playing on hard courts a little bit more nowadays. This surface is not necessarily my favourite but hopefully, it&rsquo;s [going to happen for me] this year.&rdquo;
Hurkacz books a semi-final meeting with an earlier winner of the day, Cristian Garin.
Doubles seed No 2 Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul proved too much of a challenge for their opponents, Dan Added and Gregoire Jacq. The experienced French pair, who at the beginning of February 2024 won an ATP Tour 250tournament in Montpellier, France, exposed a gulf in class as they confidently dealt with their opponents in a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
They book a place in tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-finals where they will face Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn who recorded a routine 6-4, 6-4 victory on Court CTE over Marcelo Demoliner and Sem Verbeek.

DAY 7 - A CONTROVERSIAL EXIT

Casper Ruud began his Millennium Estoril Open title defence with a strong statement as he overpowered Botic van de Zandschulp in two quick sets, winning 6-1, 6-2 in a little over an hour.
The Norwegian world No 8 returns to the courts of Estoril, where last year he beat Miomir Kecmanovic in the final.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the perfect place to come here,&rdquo; Ruud said after the match. &ldquo;Last year, it went really well for me &ndash; of course, I won the tournament. But for the most part, I'm here to try and enjoy [myself] and have a really good practice on clay before going to Monte Carlo [for the Masters 1000 tournament, which starts on Monday].&rdquo;
Recalling last year&rsquo;s triumph, Ruud spoke of his fondness for the tournament. &ldquo;This is definitely a really nice stop during the year. It's a shame that they haven't found the spot for it next year in the calendar. Hopefully, they will,&rdquo; he said.
&ldquo;Today in Norway, it was snowing, so there was no point being there. It&rsquo;s much better to be here,&rdquo; Ruud joked.
Ruud took the match in stride from the beginning. He saved a breakpoint in the first game before breaking van de Zandschulp twice for a 6-1 lead in the first set. Ruud overwhelmed his opponent with an aggressive playstyle, blasting powerful forehands at van de Zandschulp and loading his shots with heavy topspin.
&ldquo;[I settled on a more aggressive playstyle] when I lost at the US Open last year in the second round to Zhang [Zhizhen],&rdquo; said Ruud of his performance. &ldquo;I sat down, came back to the locker room and said to myself and my coach that it's time to do a little bit of change because it&rsquo;s not so fun to run around all the time &ndash; defending, slicing, and so on,&rdquo; he added.
&ldquo;I see Sinner and Alcaraz crushing the ball. I feel like I have the power, too. It's just a matter of trying to use it in a good way,&rdquo; Ruud summed up.
At the start of the second set, van de Zandschulp steadied his game and tried to match Ruud&rsquo;s intensity. The match picked up pace, and at times, it seemed that the court was not big enough for both players &ndash; the shots increased in power, the geometry of the angles sharpened. The players appeared boxed in, retreating deep behind the baseline to deal with the speed of the ball.
The shift in momentum didn&rsquo;t last. At 2-2, Ruud stepped up the level of his game even more. He broke van de Zandschulp twice, taking the second set 6-2.
Ruud advances to the quarter-finals, where he will face Marton Fucsovics, who came through a marathon match against Gael Monfils with a 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory.
Fucsovics faced the prospect of a swift defeat, losing the first set 6-1 in just 30 minutes. &ldquo;Gael was like a wall,&rdquo; the Hungarian said after the match. &ldquo;I couldn't hit a winner. I was not at his level. He played very solidly, and I was missing a lot.&rdquo;
In the second set, Fucsovics changed his game. He started playing bolder shots, blending power with trickery.
&ldquo;I had to try something else,&rdquo; Fucsovics added. &ldquo;I had to try to go for every ball, either hit a big winner or a drop shot or try and mix up the game a little bit because he was very solid.&rdquo;
The change in his game plan earned Fucsovics immediate gains. He levelled the match, mirroring Monfils&rsquo;s score from the first set. As the encounter entered its final phase, both players dug in, and what for a while threatened to become a lopsided thrashing turned into a high-level duel. The efforts were appreciated &ndash; despite the late hour and dropping temperatures, tennis-hungry fans filled the stands.
Fucsovics fired first by breaking Monfils at 1-1. The Frenchman equalised at 2-3 and forced Fucsovics to save three match points when receiving at 5-4. The Hungarian survived. In the following game, he broke Monfils to love and duly served out the match.
&ldquo;I had to be very brave. Otherwise, he would have won this match,&rdquo; Fucsovics said.
When asked about his next-round opponent, Casper Ruud, Fucsovics rejected the idea of repeating the result of his only meeting with the Norwegian star.
&ldquo;That was seven years ago in a Challenger in 2017,&rdquo; he said with a smile. &ldquo;He never won a game against me [Ruud lost 6-0, 6-0].
&ldquo;But he has changed a lot. He became a world No 2 [in September 2022], and was a Grand Slam finalist a couple of times. He's a top player nowadays,&rdquo; he said.
Nevertheless, Fucsovics likes his chances. &ldquo;I think I'm in good shape, and I have nothing to lose. I will go out there and play brave just like I did today,&rdquo; he said.
Pedro Martinez extended his head-to-head record over Roberto Bautista Agut to 2-0. In a two-hour match, Martinez beat his compatriot 7-5, 6-4. Both players contested an erratic encounter, breaking each other five times in the first set and seven times in the second. Serving for the match, Martinez had to save a breakpoint and needed four match points to convert.
The Spaniard moves to the quarter-finals, where he will face lucky loser Richard Gasquet.
Another super tiebreak heartbreak for the Portuguese fans at the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open as wild card entrants Jaime Faria and Henrique Rocha lost their doubles match against Victor Vlad Cornea and Petr Nouza 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-3.
The Portuguese recovered from one set down and raised the temperature in the stadium by clinching the second set with a tiebreak but could not follow through to victory.
Vlad Cornea and Nouza advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles, where they will face fourth-seeded Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

DAY 6 - RUUD AWAKENING

Pedro Martinez derrotou um ex-top 10 pelo segundo dia consecutivo e apurou-se pela primeira vez para as meias-finais do Millennium Estoril Open gra&ccedil;as &agrave; oitava vit&oacute;ria consecutiva.
Embalado pelo t&iacute;tulo no Challenger de Girona, o tenista espanhol eliminou o ex-campe&atilde;o Richard Gasquet &mdash; que foi repescado como&nbsp;lucky loser diretamente para a segunda ronda &mdash; em duas partidas, gra&ccedil;as aos parciais de 6-4 e 6-4.
A atravessar um bom momento de forma, Martinez (atualmente no 77.&ordm; lugar do ranking e ex-top 40) igualou a recente campanha no ATP 250 de Santiago, em fevereiro, e apurou-se pela quarta vez para a meia-final de um torneio ATP.
Com um t&iacute;tulo no curr&iacute;culo (precisamente na capital chilena, mas no ano anterior) e uma final perdida (em Kitzbuhel 2021), o tenista de Alzira procura tornar-se no quarto espanhol a inscrever o nome na final de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open, depois de Nicolas Almagro (vencedor em 2016), Pablo Carre&ntilde;o Busta (vice-campe&atilde;o em 2016 e campe&atilde;o em 2017) e Albert Ramos-Vinolas (campe&atilde;o de 2021).

Pedro Martinez afasta ex-campeão e chega pela primeira vez às meias-finais no Estoril

O encontro do dia sorriu a Cristian Gar&iacute;n (112.&ordm; ATP, antigo top 20), que levou a melhor sobre Nuno Borges (62.&ordm;) por 6-2 e 7-6(3) para travar o sonho do n&uacute;mero um portugu&ecirc;s, que procurava atingir pela primeira vez as meias-finais de um torneio ATP e logo "em casa", no Millennium Estoril Open.
Ex-campe&atilde;o j&uacute;nior de Roland-Garros e oitavofinalista como profissional em 2021, o chileno apurou-se para umas meias-finais do circuito principal pela primeira vez em exatamente dois anos.&nbsp;
Para tal, aproveitou a falta de energia inicial do maiato -no final admitiu que as grandes vit&oacute;rias anteriores mexeram emocionalmente - e no segundo parcial reagiu da melhor forma a um incidente controverso com o &aacute;rbitro de cadeira e n&atilde;o deixou Borges crescer nem o forte apoio do p&uacute;blico condicionar o seu n&iacute;vel de jogo.
Garin salvou as seis oportunidades de break criadas pelo melhor portugu&ecirc;s da atualidade - todas nesse fat&iacute;dico e controverso sexto jogo do segundo set, que acabou por se revelar muito importante para o desfecho do encontro em 2h11.
No s&aacute;bado, Cristian Gar&iacute;n ter&aacute; como advers&aacute;rio Hubert Hurkacz. Se para o chileno se trata da nona meia-final da carreira ao mais alto n&iacute;vel e todas aconteceram nesta superf&iacute;cie, o polaco, segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, discutir&aacute; pela 20.&ordf; vez o acesso a uma final, mas primeira em terra batida.

Cristian Garín trava sonho de Nuno Borges e chega às meias-finais

O melhor tenista portugu&ecirc;s da atualidade e dois jogadores do top 10 mundial lideram a constela&ccedil;&atilde;o de estrelas que formam o elenco dos quartos de final de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open.
&Agrave; nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o, o cen&aacute;rio sem precedentes mant&eacute;m em aberto v&aacute;rios cen&aacute;rios: a consagra&ccedil;&atilde;o de um bicampe&atilde;o, uma final entre dois dos melhores tenistas do mundo ou at&eacute; uma campanha dourada para o her&oacute;i nacional.
Com tudo em aberto, vamos aos factos: &agrave; segunda participa&ccedil;&atilde;o, Hubert Hurkacz venceu pela primeira vez na nossa terra batida e parte como favorito frente a Pablo Llamas Ruiz no encontro que abre a a&ccedil;&atilde;o no Est&aacute;dio Millennium, mas o espanhol &eacute; o jogador com mais vit&oacute;rias na competi&ccedil;&atilde;o (j&aacute; s&atilde;o quatro) e demonstrou estar capaz de desafiar advers&aacute;rios de todos os calibres.
A sess&atilde;o diurna termina com o encontro mais aguardado da jornada: o frente a frente entre Nuno Borges e Cristian Gar&iacute;n. O n&uacute;mero um nacional esteve a um ponto da derrota na primeira ronda e tr&ecirc;s dias depois regressou embalado e encantou ao surpreender Lorenzo Musetti para celebrar a terceira vit&oacute;ria da carreira &mdash;&nbsp;todas este ano &mdash;&nbsp;contra um jogador do top 30. &Eacute; o terceiro portugu&ecirc;s a chegar aos quartos de final (Jo&atilde;o Sousa s&oacute; parou com as m&atilde;os no t&iacute;tulo em 2018 e nos anos seguinte tamb&eacute;m Jo&atilde;o Domingues chegou a esta fase) e tem mais hist&oacute;ria &agrave; vista, pois nunca alcan&ccedil;ou as meias-finais de um torneio ATP.
Quando se ligarem as luzes, o ex-campe&atilde;o Richard Gasquet tentar&aacute; prolongar por mais um dia a segunda vida que recebeu. Repescado como lucky loser diretamente para a segunda ronda, o vencedor de 2015 venceu o duelo de esquerdas a uma m&atilde;o com Dominic Thiem e tem o curr&iacute;culo do seu lado frente a Pedro Mart&iacute;nez, mas o espanhol venceu o Challenger de Girona no &uacute;ltimo domingo e j&aacute; soma sete vit&oacute;rias consecutivas.
Abrimos com um top 10, fechamos com outro. Casper Ruud fez uma declara&ccedil;&atilde;o de inten&ccedil;&otilde;es com a vit&oacute;ria da v&eacute;spera e esta sexta-feira enfrenta Marton Fucsovics, o h&uacute;ngaro que renasceu das cinzas ao salvar tr&ecirc;s match points para afastar o sempre espetacular Gael Monfils e ficar com a &uacute;ltima vaga nestes quartos de final. O card&aacute;pio promete.

Por mares nunca dantes navegados

Um ano depois do d&eacute;cimo e derradeiro t&iacute;tulo ATP, Casper Ruud somou o quinto triunfo consecutivo no Millennium Estoril Open ao bater Botic Van De Zandschulp (87.&ordm; do ranking) com os parciais de 6-1 e 6-2 em somente 77 minutos.
Oitavo da hierarquia ATP, o noruegu&ecirc;s nem sequer perdeu o servi&ccedil;o e igualou os frente a frentes com o opositor neerland&ecirc;s (3-3) para atingir pela 48.&ordf; vez os quartos de final de uma prova do circuito principal, 32.&ordf; em terra batida.&nbsp;
Com 18 vit&oacute;rias e duas finais na presente temporada, Ruud procura ser o primeiro jogador da hist&oacute;ria do torneio a defender o trof&eacute;u arrecadado no ano anterior e para regressar &agrave;s meias-finais ter&aacute; de ultrapassar Marton Fucsovics (85.&ordm;).
O h&uacute;ngaro prevaleceu no &uacute;ltimo encontro da jornada, que foi um aut&ecirc;ntico espet&aacute;culo e que contou com casa cheia e grande ambiente. Ao cabo de 2h04, Fucsovics precisou de anular tr&ecirc;s match points para derrotar o carism&aacute;tico Gael Monfils, 45.&ordm; do ranking (antigo sexto) e s&eacute;timo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, por 1-6, 6-1 e 7-5 para celebrar pela primeira vez ao quarto confronto face ao gaul&ecirc;s de 37 anos.
O tenista magiar logrou assim marcar presen&ccedil;a em quartos de final ATP pela 22.&ordf; ocasi&atilde;o, mas apenas quarta em terra batida e primeira na superf&iacute;cie desde 2019.&nbsp;
Entretanto, o n&uacute;mero um portugu&ecirc;s Nuno Borges ficou a saber que ser&aacute; o chileno Cristian Garin (112.&ordm;) o seu advers&aacute;rio na antepen&uacute;ltima fase da prova. O antigo top 20 (17.&ordm;) venceu o talentoso franc&ecirc;s Arthur Fils (37.&ordm; e quinto pr&eacute;-designado), respons&aacute;vel pelo encerrar da carreira de Jo&atilde;o Sousa na ronda anterior, com os parciais de 2-6, 6-4 e 6-4.

Campeão em título Casper Ruud regressa com triunfo convincente

Day six of the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open arrived with several blockbuster matches on the schedule.
Nuno Borges stunned seed No 3 Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(4), 6-3 with a brilliant performance. The Portuguese No 1 showed indomitable spirit in the first round as he banished his demons to recover a 0-6, 0-2 deficit against Lucas Pouille. Continuing his dream Millennium Estoril Open run, Borges delivered far less drama, but just as much excitement.
&ldquo;I was able to play my game more and compete with my opponent rather than just try to fight myself,&rdquo; said Borges after the match.
Borges becomes the first Portuguese player to reach the quarter-final of the Millennium Estoril Open since Joao Domingues in 2019.
The Portuguese No 1 gave another display of his tenacious game as he quickly recovered a break after falling behind and pushed the match to a tiebreak. In the decider, Borges soared on the raucous support of the fans in attendance and clinched the first set, giving up just one minibreak.
After Musetti&rsquo;s slow start to the second set, Borges surged to a 4-1 lead. He navigated the only tricky moment of the second set coolheadedly, saving a breakpoint at 5-4, before holding to 15 for the match.
&ldquo;Those decisive moments made all the difference,&rdquo; Borges said after the match. &ldquo;I did well when it came to breaking him and keeping the lead. I think I deserved to win. I was more consistent, perhaps, and things played in my favour, too.&rdquo;
With the win, Borges records his third win over players inside the top 30 &ndash; which all came this year.
&ldquo;My preparation. My training, I believe that's what I have to keep improving,&rdquo; Borges said when asked about the improvement. &ldquo;But also the way I approach and play the game.&rdquo;
On Friday, Borges will contest the second ATP Tour quarter-final of his career against Cristian Garin, who survived a marathon against seed No 5 Arthur Fils. The Chilean lost the first set, before recovering the score for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.
&ldquo;I know Arthur Fils quite well. I know what to expect from him, but I don't know much about Cristian Garin,&rdquo; Borges said about his upcoming match.
Second seed and world No 9 Hubert Hurkacz showed heart and grit as he rallied back from down a break in the first set to defeat Jan Choinski 7-6(5), 6-4.
&ldquo;It's definitely difficult [playing first match on clay],&rdquo; said Hurkacz after the match. &ldquo;I really enjoy Portugal and had a great time so far. [I&rsquo;m] just getting used to clay. It's a difficult task, and I'm trying to do my best.&rdquo;
With the win, Hurkacz records his first win on the Millennium Estoril Open courts, beginning his clay season in style.
Hurkacz suffered a slow start to the match. He faltered on serve at 2-2 and played a shaky game at 2-4, where he had to save two breakpoints. Receiving at 4-5, Hurkacz, however, upped his game, converting the fifth breakpoint and clinching an error-strewn tiebreak. The world No 9 steadied his performance in the second set. He showed more confidence, fighting for every point and breaking Choinski at 3-3. In the final game of the match, Hurkacz saved a breakpoint before converting his second match point.
Hurkacz advances to the tournament's quarter-finals, where he will face qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz. Asked about the goals for the rest of the season, Hurkacz was non-commital: &ldquo;Just keep winning, hopefully,&rdquo; he quipped.
Meanwhile, on Court CTE, Spain&rsquo;s Llamas Ruiz defeated his compatriot David Jorda Sanchis, winning 7-6(2), 6-4 in a two-hour battle.
Richard Gasquet made the most of his second life as a lucky loser. The French veteran continues his Millennium Estoril Open campaign, defeating Dominic Thiem 6-4, 7-6(6).
&ldquo;It's another chance,&rdquo; said Gasquet after the match. &ldquo;You lose in the last round, [and after returning to the tournament as a lucky loser], you have nothing to lose. That was the case today. I had nothing to lose against Dominic. He won against me many times. It's tennis. Sometimes you can lose. Two days after, you can win.
&ldquo;Of course, you need to be lucky, and I did it,&rdquo; he added.
Gasquet broke Thiem early before saving two breakpoints en route to claiming the first set. Both players traded breaks at the onset of the second set and battled through to a tiebreak. Thiem briefly threatened to level the encounter when he found himself with two setpoints, receiving at 6-4, but Gasquet held and himself scored two minibreaks to clinch the match.
&ldquo;[Overall] I thought it was a really decent match,&rdquo; Thiem said after the loss. &ldquo;He didn't give me many free points, so credit to him. They&rsquo;re always nice matches when we play [each other]. It was our sixth match, and every single one was good and enjoyable.&rdquo;
Plagued by a recurrent wrist injury, Thiem continues to search for the form that saw him lift the 2020 US Open title. The Austrian stated that the wrist problem is &ldquo;under control," although he admitted that it is &ldquo;not as good as it was before.&rdquo;
Gasquet advances to the next round and will play the winner of Pedro Martinez versus Roberto Bautista Agut.
Romain Arneodo and Tristan Weissborn scored a surprising victory, beating third-seeded Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 10-4 in the second round of the doubles draw.
Arneodo and Weissborn won the first set in the tiebreak before losing the second in the same manner. The match was decided in a super tiebreak where Arneodo and Weissborn rushed to a 6-1 lead before winning the decider 10-4.
They will face yesterday&rsquo;s winners Marcelo Demoliner and Sem Verbeek next.

DAY 6 - Borges plants the Portuguese flag in the quarters

Era um dos encontros mais apetec&iacute;veis da segunda ronda e correspondeu &agrave;s expetativas. Perante um Court Cascais a rebentar pelas costuras, Richard Gasquet (122.&ordm; ATP) derrotou o bem-conhecido Dominic Thiem (91.&ordm;) por 6-4 e 7-6(6) para atingir os primeiros quartos de final no circuito principal desde agosto.
Campe&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open em 2015, antigo s&eacute;timo do ranking mundial carimbou acesso pela quarta vez em cinco participa&ccedil;&otilde;es aos quartos de final do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal. Neste caso como lucky loser repescado diretamente para a segunda ronda depois da desist&ecirc;ncia de Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, quarto pr&eacute;-designado.
Num duelo entre dois dos jogadores mais carism&aacute;ticos do circuito, muito devido &agrave;s esquerdas a uma m&atilde;o, o franc&ecirc;s de 37 anos foi superior praticamente todo o encontro, evidenciou toda a magia que o carateriza e s&oacute; enfrentou um ponto de break ao longo dos 122 minutos, mesmo que no segundo parcial tenha estado a servir em segundo lugar.
No segundo set, Gasquet precisou de anular dois set points no tie-break quando Thiem (campe&atilde;o do Us Open de 2020 e antigo n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s ATP) esbo&ccedil;ou uma rea&ccedil;&atilde;o e amea&ccedil;ou a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o. Mesmo assim n&atilde;o evitou que o mano a mano entre os dois ex-top 10 ficasse agora igualado a tr&ecirc;s triunfos para cada lado.
Nos quartos de final, o talentoso gaul&ecirc;s ter&aacute; pela frente o espanhol Pedro Martinez (77.&ordm;), que nesta quinta-feira superou o compatriota Roberto Bautista Agut (93.&ordm;) por 7-5 e 6-4.
&nbsp;

Richard Gasquet vence duelo de esquerdas a uma mão e segue para os quartos de final

Quase 72 horas depois do primeiro encontro, Nuno Borges assinou uma exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o de gala para somar uma das melhores vit&oacute;rias da carreira e chegar pela primeira vez aos quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open, onde iguala o melhor resultado em torneios ATP.
A v&iacute;tima desta quinta-feira foi Lorenzo Musetti. Em estreia no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, o italiano de 22 anos (n&uacute;mero 24 mundial e terceiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie) assinou a primeira quebra de servi&ccedil;o do encontro, mas o her&oacute;i da casa &mdash; foi o &uacute;nico a superar a ronda de estreia &mdash; reagiu a tempo e embalou para um triunfo por 7-6(4) e 6-3 depois de anular dois&nbsp;set points antes do&nbsp;tie-break.
A vit&oacute;ria desta quinta-feira foi a terceira de Nuno Borges contra um advers&aacute;rio do top 30 mundial. Todas aconteceram este ano, com as duas primeiras (Alejandro Davidovich Fokina e Grigor Dimitrov) no piso r&aacute;pido do Australian Open e esta em terra batida... contra um especialista da superf&iacute;cie.
Depois de Jo&atilde;o Sousa em 2018 e Jo&atilde;o Domingues em 2019, Nuno Borges torna-se no terceiro tenista portugu&ecirc;s a chegar aos quartos de final de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open, que acontece desde 2015.&nbsp;
O pr&oacute;ximo advers&aacute;rio sair&aacute; do encontro entre o franc&ecirc;s Arthur Fils (37.&ordm;), que colocou um ponto final na carreira de Jo&atilde;o Sousa, e o chileno Cristian Gar&iacute;n (112.&ordm; e ex-17.&ordm;), agendado para o Court Cascais.

Nuno Borges pela primeira vez nos quartos de final com uma das melhores vitórias da carreira

Um ano depois da estreia, o polaco Hubert Hurkacz exibiu as credenciais de top 10 e celebrou a primeira vit&oacute;ria no Millennium Estoril Open para inscrever o nome nos quartos de final.
A disputar o primeiro torneio da temporada em terra batida, o n&uacute;mero 10 mundial confirmou o favoritismo com uma vit&oacute;ria por 7-6(5) e 6-4 sobre o&nbsp;qualifier Jan Choinski (188.&ordm; classificado no ranking).
Apesar de ter avan&ccedil;ado em dois&nbsp;sets, Hurkacz precisou de trabalhar para resistir a um advers&aacute;rio que na v&eacute;spera eliminou o talentoso Jo&atilde;o Fonseca.
O segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie recuperou com muito custo de um&nbsp;break de atraso na primeira partida (precisou de cinco pontos de break), que venceu num tie-break. A partir da&iacute;, elevou a presta&ccedil;&atilde;o com o primeiro servi&ccedil;o e tomou o controlo do duelo para se tornar no primeiro vencedor da jornada no Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
Surpreendido por Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles h&aacute; um ano, Hubert Hurkacz entrou com o p&eacute; direito na nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open e apurou-se para os quartos de final, onde ter&aacute; pela frente mais um qualifier: o espanhol Pablo Llamas Ruiz, que venceu o compatriota David Jorda Sanchis &mdash; repescado como lucky loser &mdash; por 7-6(2) e 6-4 para celebrar pela quarta vez esta semana no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.

Hubert Hurkacz vence pela primeira vez no Millennium Estoril Open

Visto por muito como um talento geracional, Jo&atilde;o Fonseca (288.&ordm; ATP) mostrou imensas qualidades na estreia em terra batida europeia, mas viu o qualifier brit&acirc;nico Jan Choinski (188.&ordm;) prevalecer com os parciais de 6-2, 6-7(5) e 6-4 para somar o terceiro triunfo da semana e avan&ccedil;ar para a segunda ronda do Millennium Estoril Open.
Com uma direita demolidora e um t&eacute;nis que levou o p&uacute;blico portugu&ecirc;s &agrave; loucura, Jo&atilde;o Fonseca resgatou o encontro no segundo parcial quando o advers&aacute;rio serviu para a vit&oacute;ria, mas no set decisivo n&atilde;o manteve o mesmo n&iacute;vel e viu Choinski celebrar ao cabo de 2h26, aproveitando os muitos erros do jovem brasileiro de 17 anos, sempre em constante agress&atilde;o dentro do court.
O ex-n&uacute;mero um mundial de juniores (atual terceiro), convidado pela organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o para o torneio, ainda assim evidenciou que ser&aacute; um caso s&eacute;rio num futuro pr&oacute;ximo.
Quanto a Jan Choinski, muito s&oacute;lido no duelo, alcan&ccedil;ou o terceiro sucesso frente a um jogador de l&iacute;ngua portuguesa (Francisco Rocha e Duarte Vale na fase pr&eacute;via) e marcou duelo contra o polaco Hubert Hurkacz, top 10 ATP e segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie do Millennium Estoril Open.
Nos restantes embates de conclus&atilde;o da primeira ronda, Marton Fucsovic (7-5 e 6-2 contra Pedro Cachin), Cristian Garin (num frente a frente suspenso segunda-feira a 5-4 do segundo set, o chileno venceu os tr&ecirc;s jogos desta quarta-feira para se impor por 7-6(3) e 7-5 contra Jurij Rodionov), Pedro Martinez (6-4 e 6-2 face a Daniel Altmaier), Botic Van &nbsp;De Zandschulpc (6-4, 4-6 e 6-1 perante Federico Coria, no compromisso que encerrou a jornada) e Pablo Llamas Ruiz (6-4 e 6-3 diante de Dominik Koepfer) juntaram-se ao ramalhete da segunda eliminat&oacute;ria, onde j&aacute; estavam Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista Agut, Dominic Thiem, Arthur Fils, Gael Monfils, David Jorda Sanchis e os isentos da ronda inaugural Casper Ruud, Hurkacz, Lorenzo Musetti e o lucky loser Richard Gasquet.
Duelos de segunda ronda:
Casper Ruud - Botic Van &nbsp;De Zandschulpc
Marton Fucsovics - Gael Monfils
Richard Gasquet - Dominic Thiem
Pedro Martinez - Roberto Bautista Agut
Arthur Fils - Cristian Garin
Nuno Borges - Lorenzo Musetti
Pablo Llamas Ruiz - David Jorda Sanchis
Jan Choinski - Hubert Hurkacz

João Fonseca encanta público português apesar da derrota na estreia

Joao Sousa hangs up his racquet following an illustrious career spanning two decades.
&ldquo;I often say that tennis is a way of life and not a sport &ndash; you have to live tennis. So, what comes now is a period of very deep reflection,&rdquo; Sousa said when giving his last press conference as a professional athlete. &ldquo;But I believe that other chapters will come, and they will be certainly related to tennis.&rdquo;
The Portuguese played his last singles match before the adoring Millennium Estoril Open public, losing 7-5, 6-4 to fifth-seeded Arthur Fils.
Sousa fought bravely, determined to roll back the years for his farewell tour, but could not overcome his opponent. Fils broke at 2-2 in the first set, and despite giving up a break himself, he managed to repeat the feat at 5-5 before claiming the first set on serve. Similarly, he scored the decisive break in the second set at 2-2 and held on for the win.
Fils will face Cristian Garin in the second round of the singles draw.
Sousa is an undeniable legend on the tennis scene. A trailblazer in Portuguese sports, in 2013, Sousa became the first Portuguese player to win an ATP Tour event, beating Julien Benneteau in the final of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. En route to lifting the trophy, Sousa scored the biggest win of his career, beating then-world No 4 David Ferrer. The title was Sousa&rsquo;s first of four ATP Tour trophies, the most memorable being his fairy-tale run at the 2018 Millennium Estoril Open, where he beat Francis Tiafoe in the final.
In 2016, Sousa achieved a career-high ranking of 28 in the world and cemented his legacy as the most accomplished Portuguese player. Sousa&rsquo;s influences extend beyond the arena of sports. Following his trophy in 2018, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa congratulated him in person. Named 2018 GQ Portugal Man of the Year in the Sports category, Sousa&rsquo;s achievements have entrenched him in the pantheon of Portuguese sports.
Sousa&rsquo;s longevity and success laid the path for future generations of the nation&rsquo;s players. During the farewell ceremony after the match, Nuno Borges, Francisco Cabral, Henrique Rocha, Gast&atilde;o Elias, Jaime Faria and other Portuguese players joined him on court to celebrate many shared memories. He leaves Portuguese tennis in good hands, and with his young compatriots&rsquo; best yet to come, they will know that they are standing on the shoulders of a giant.
Despite saying his goodbye, the Portuguese wasn&rsquo;t done quite yet. Sousa returned to the courts later in the afternoon to pair up with Joao Fonseca in the doubles draw. The pair entered the tournament with a wild card and were drawn against Marcelo Demoliner and Sem Verbeek in the first round.
&ldquo;It's an honour for me,&rdquo; said Fonseca before the match. &ldquo;He's such a great guy, such a great player. So it will be an honour to share the court with him.&rdquo;
Both pairs split the first two sets and had to settle the match in a super tiebreak, where Demoliner and Verbeek quickly established a 9-2 lead, eventually winning 10-5.
Next, they will face the winner of tomorrow&rsquo;s match between Romain Arneodoand Sam Weissborn versus seed No 3 Ariel Behar and Adam Pavlasek.
In another French-Portuguese encounter, Gael Monfils faced a formidable opponent in Henrique Rocha &ndash; the Frenchman winning 7-5, 7-5.
&ldquo;He's a really talented guy, playing with a lot of confidence,&rdquo; said Monfils of his opponent. &ldquo;I could feel his power, so I am happy with the win. [I&rsquo;m] not really happy [about] the way I played. I think I can play much better. But a win is a win,&rdquo; he added philosophically.
Ranked over 150 places over Rocha, Monfils struggled to overpower the combative 19-year-old whose sheer power from both wings made things difficult for the Frenchman on multiple occasions.
&ldquo;You are always under stress when you face a good player like him,&rdquo; Monfils added. &ldquo;He goes for it. In the second set, he had an early break. He held and played tough at set points. I felt like I had more experience than him at that moment. He was a little bit nervous. When you get aged like me, you can recognise this quite quickly.&rdquo;
Monfils broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set before Rocha&rsquo;s high-octane shotmaking allowed the Portuguese to level the match. However, receiving at 5-6, the Frenchman reeled off three points from 15-30, earning himself a break and a set. Rocha regrouped in the second set, breaking early for a 3-1 lead. The players continued on serve until a tense game at 5-4 had Monfils save two set points and equalise the set with a break. Monfils then won his own service game to 15 and again broke Rocha to claim the victory.
Asked about the loss, Rocha looked for positives. &ldquo;I think I played a good game,&rdquo; the Portuguese said. &ldquo;Gael knew how to play the decisive games better. My serve wasn't the best today. I think that's what made the difference today. &hellip; I think maybe if I'd had a bit more experience, it could have been different,&rdquo; he mused.
In the last match on Estadio Millennium, Botic van de Zandschulp defeated Federico Coria 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
The match resumed at 0-3 after yesterday&rsquo;s rain delay, and initially, van de Zandschulp maintained the advantage. At 4-2 in the first serve, Coria broke back but immediately gave up a break himself before repeating the pattern, thus allowing van de Zandschulp to claim the first set.
In the second set, van de Zandschulp again raced off to a 3-0 lead before giving up two breaks, allowing Coria to level the match. The Dutchman took yet another lead in the final set, this time with 3-1, and was determined to hold on. He re-affirmed his grip on the match with two more breaks and served out the win.
Van de Zandschulp joins the day&rsquo;s other winners in the second round, where he will have a tough challenge in seed No 1 and last year&rsquo;s champion, Casper Ruud.
Elsewhere on Court CTE, the second seed Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul clinched a 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-7 win over the 2022 Millennium Estoril Openchampions Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral in a first-round match of the doubles.
The French pair saved six breakpoints en route to the tiebreak in the first set, themselves threatening none, but it was them who proved more clinical in the decider. Borges and Cabral regrouped and rallied back, scoring two breaks in the second set and giving up one to level the match. Ultimately, Doumbia and Reboul proved decisive enough to edge out their opponents in the super tiebreak.
They advance to the second round of the tournament, where they will face Dan Added and Gregoire Jacq, who themselves fought a battle of margins, winning 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 10-8 against Constantin Frantzen and Hendrik Jebens.
Following their singles matches, Pedro Martinez and Pedro Cachin returned to the courts for a first-round doubles match against Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov. The two Pedros suffered a swift defeat, losing to Escobar and Nedovyesov 6-3, 6-2 in just 60 minutes.

Day 5 - OBRIGADO, JOÃO!

O choque geracional entre Gael Monfils e Henrique Rocha sorriu ao franc&ecirc;s, que resistiu &agrave;s v&aacute;rias investidas do portugu&ecirc;s para regressar ao Est&aacute;dio Millennium com uma vit&oacute;ria em dois sets (7-5 e 7-5) e carimbar o apuramento para a segunda ronda do Millennium Estoril Open.
Convidado pela organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o para o quadro principal, que h&aacute; um ano disputou depois de "furar" o qualifying de forma sensacional, o novo n&uacute;mero dois nacional n&atilde;o se deixou intimidar pela ocasi&atilde;o e esteve &agrave; altura de uma sess&atilde;o noturna com tudo o que isso significa &mdash; desde casa cheia ao impacto televisivo.
Os 18 anos de diferen&ccedil;a entre Monfils e Rocha s&oacute; se fizeram sentir nas retas finais de ambos os sets. No primeiro, o tenista da casa voltou a perder o servi&ccedil;o (tinha recuperado o break de atraso quando o advers&aacute;rio serviu para dar o primeiro passo no marcador) depois de estar a dois pontos de um tie-break; no segundo, a entrada com o p&eacute; direito &mdash; com o passar do tempo ficou cada vez mais confort&aacute;vel frente a um advers&aacute;rio sobre quem revelou ser um sonho enfrentar &mdash; permitiu-lhe servir ao 5-4 e foi nesse jogo que teve dois set points.
Confrontado com a possibilidade de obrigar um ex-top 10 a um terceiro set, o Rocha tremeu, cedeu ao nervosismo e perdeu o servi&ccedil;o n&atilde;o numa, mas em duas ocasi&otilde;es &mdash; a derradeira num momento perdido e com uma dupla falta a permitir a Monfils uma nova celebra&ccedil;&atilde;o na terra batida em que j&aacute; proporcionou tanto espet&aacute;culo.
Depois de Jaime Faria e Jo&atilde;o Sousa, Henrique Rocha foi o terceiro portugu&ecirc;s a cair na jornada desta quarta-feira e estes resultados deixaram Nuno Borges como o &uacute;nico representante luso em prova.
O n&uacute;mero um nacional at&eacute; esteve a um ponto de cair logo na eliminat&oacute;ria de estreia, mas deu a volta ao ex-top 10 Lucas Pouille e volta a atuar na quinta-feira, contra o italiano Lorenzo Musetti, para tentar chegar pela primeira vez aos quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open.

Gael Monfils trava Henrique Rocha na primeira sessão noturna

Campe&otilde;es em 2022, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral n&atilde;o v&atilde;o repetir o brilharete na nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open.&nbsp;
Na primeira ronda, o par portugu&ecirc;s cedeu com os parciais de 7-6(5), 3-6 e 10-7 face aos franceses Sadio Doumbia e Fabien Reboul, tenistas &agrave; porta do top 30 e que partilharam uma interessante rivalidade com os portuenses na temporada de 2021, na qual Borges e Cabral terminaram com mais t&iacute;tulos Challenger.
O desfecho deu-se muito devido &agrave; falta de efic&aacute;cia dos amigos de inf&acirc;ncia, (em conjunto somam 15 t&iacute;tulos), que concretizaram somente duas chances de break em 15 criadas, ao passo que os gauleses n&atilde;o desperdi&ccedil;aram a &uacute;nica ao alcance.
Quem tamb&eacute;m se despediu do quadro de pares foi Jo&atilde;o Sousa. Minutos depois de encerrar a carreira individual, o vimaranense juntou-se ao prod&iacute;gio brasileiro Jo&atilde;o Fonseca para concluir a gloriosa jornada em definido. O par de l&iacute;ngua portuguesa perdeu contra o tamb&eacute;m brasileiro Marcelo Demoliner e o neerland&ecirc;s Sem Verbeek por 6-4, 4-6 e 10-5.

Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral ficam pela estreia no Clube de Ténis do Estoril

Depois de ultrapassar a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o na estreia em provas ATP, Jaime Faria (262.&ordm; do ranking) n&atilde;o conseguiu aceder &agrave; segunda ronda do maior torneios de t&eacute;nis em Portugal ao ceder por 7-6(4) e 6-1 contra o lucky loser&nbsp;David Jorda Sanchis (329.&ordm;).
Faria ia defrontar o franc&ecirc;s Constant Lestienne, entretanto lesionado no joelho. O encontro com o espanhol devia ter acontecido na v&eacute;spera e no Est&aacute;dio Millennium, mas a forte chuva cancelou a jornada de ter&ccedil;a-feira.
J&aacute; no Court Cascais, o portugu&ecirc;s de 20 anos pareceu ser o melhor durante o set inaugural: fez o break em primeiro lugar, no primeiro jogo, e depois de ter consentido a vantagem disp&ocirc;s de tr&ecirc;s break points em tr&ecirc;s jogos de resposta distintos. Um tie-break menos conseguido deitou tudo a perder, tamb&eacute;m porque, admitiu j&aacute; no final, a press&atilde;o de passar a favorito te&oacute;rico mexeu com a sua mente, isto depois do sorteio inicial ter ditado um embate contra um tenista do top 100.&nbsp;
Ainda asim, Jaime Faria despediu-se do Millennium Estoril Open com os primeiros triunfos ATP, no qualifying, e a certeza que este foi o primeiro de muitos torneios no circuito principal.&nbsp;
As aten&ccedil;&otilde;es pessoais passam agora para os Challengers e o maior foco est&aacute; em garantir uma vaga em provas do Grand Slam, a come&ccedil;ar j&aacute; em Roland-Garros.

Jaime Faria eliminado na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open

The 2024 Millennium Estoril Open returned under clear skies following a washed-off Tuesday.
Qualifier Jan Choinski overcame a tough challenge in 17-year-old Wild Card recipient Joao Fonseca with a hard-earned 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 win. Choinski threatened to knock out his opponent in two quick sets before the talented Brazilian pulled him back into the match.
&ldquo;Well, it was a tough match. [But] I'm gaining experience, and I'm happy with the result,&rdquo; Fonseca said after the match. &ldquo;I played a good game. He came from the qualifying, so he spent more time on these courts, but I&rsquo;m very happy to be given the opportunity [to play].&rdquo;
In February 2024, Fonseca reached the quarter-finals of the Rio Open, scoring impressive wins over Arthur Fils and Cristian Garin. He became the first player born since 2006 to win an ATP Tour match.
Fonseca started the match poorly. Perhaps dwarfed by the occasion, he made frequent errors and couldn&rsquo;t impose his game. Choinski quickly established dominance, claiming the first set 6-2 in 37 minutes. He appeared on course for a similar score in the second set, but Fonseca suddenly managed to shake off the nerves and rallied back from 2-5 down. He produced remarkable seven breakpoints at 3-5 before finally converting. Carrying on with the momentum, the young Brazilian took the set into a tiebreak, coming out on top to thundering applause from the Portuguese audience.
In the third set, Fonseca saved three breakpoints in the first game but found himself in trouble again when he lost four points in a row, serving at 3-3. Choinski held on to the lead and sealed the match with a clean round of serving.
&ldquo;[The fans were] one of the factors why I was able to turn the match around a little in the second set,&rdquo; Fonseca said. &ldquo;They were cheering me on, giving me energy, and I managed to win the second set, but he ended up playing better in the third set.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m thankful to have played in such a wonderful tournament,&rdquo; he added.
Choinski moves on to round two, where he will play seed No 2 Hubert Hurkacz.
Earlier in the day, Marton Fucsovics advanced to the next round by beating Pedro Cachin 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 30 minutes. This was the pair&rsquo;s second meeting &ndash; first on clay &ndash; with Fucsovics leading the head-to-head 1-0.
Fucsovics broke his opponent at 3-3 in the first set, and despite missing the opportunity to capitalise on the advantage when serving at 5-4, he broke Cachin again in the following game before sealing the set. Keeping up the intensity, he broke twice more in the second set and quickly served out the match.
Fucsovics is scheduled to face the winner of Henrique Rocha versus Gael Monfils, who play later today.
Pedro Martinez extended his 1-0 head-to-head against Daniel Altmaier with a routine 6-4, 6-2 win.
As the match began, Martinez struck first, breaking at 2-2. He fended off four breakpoints before claiming the set. After the break, Martinez proved even more clinical &ndash; breaking Altmaier twice early for a 4-0 lead and saving three breakpoints in his final game.
Martinez will face fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in round two.
Qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz came through a heated encounter against eighth seed Dominik Koepfer, winning 6-4, 6-3.
The match, continuing from yesterday, resumed at 2-2 in the first set. Shortly after the start, it seemed that Koepfer might gain the upper hand when he threatened two breakpoints at 3-3. But as Llamas Ruiz survived, he broke his opponent when receiving at 5-4, clinching the set. The players contested a topsy-turvy second set, trading two breaks each, and at 3-4, Llamas Ruiz converted his fifth breakpoint of the game before serving for the win.
Jaime Faria, the first Portuguese player scheduled to appear today, made a surprise exit to qualifier David Jorda Sanchis, losing 7-6(4), 6-1.
&ldquo;A match I really wanted to win,&rdquo; said despondent Faria after the match.&nbsp; &ldquo;The racquet [felt like it] weighed a bit more today, and I couldn't handle it. Congratulations to David. He deserves it. He did more than me to win the match.&rdquo;
Faria broke his opponent in the first game but could not hold on to the advantage, giving up the break at 2-1 in the first set. Both players re-affirmed their grip on the match, and in the ensuing tiebreak, Jorda Sanchis scored three minibreaks to take the set. With a foothold in the match, Jorda Sanchis played a high-level second set, breaking Faria three times for a 6-1 score in just 34 minutes.
&ldquo;I knew I was serving better than him [in the first set], and I was more comfortable in the games, but I couldn't beat him in the tiebreak,&rdquo; Faria added about his performance. &ldquo;I think the tiebreak was a bit of a lottery, and he was better there at one point or another, which makes all the difference.&rdquo;
Jorda Sanchis books a meeting with the other winner of today, Pablo Llamas Ruiz, making for the second all-Spanish encounter of round two.
Cristian Garin needed just three games to finish his match against Jurij Rodionov, which initially started on Monday. Garin advances with a final score of 7-6(3), 7-5.
The encounter, which halted on Monday night due to rain &ndash; and didn&rsquo;t manage to get underway yesterday &ndash; resumed at 4-5 in the second set. Garin began by holding his serve to level the set. He broke Rodionov in the next game and closed out the match in style by clawing his way out of a 15-40 score in the final game.
Garin plays next seed No 5 Arthur Fils.

DAY 5 - JAN CHOINSKI SHINES UNDER THE SUN

A &uacute;ltima dan&ccedil;a de Jo&atilde;o Sousa terminou contra o jovem talentoso franc&ecirc;s Arthur Fils, 37.&ordm; ATP e quinto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie do Millennium Estoril Open.&nbsp;
Como disse o advers&aacute;rio 16 anos mais novo (35 do vimaranense para 19 do gaul&ecirc;s) na entrevista em court, Sousa apresentou um n&iacute;vel muito distante de um tenista em pr&eacute;-reforma e isso foi por demais evidente nas quase duas horas de duelo (1h51), terminado com os parciais de 7-5 e 6-4.
O melhor portugu&ecirc;s de todos os tempos lutou olhos nos olhos contra um top 40 ATP e deixou tudo o que tinha no recinto de jogo, apan&aacute;gio do que ofereceu ao longo dos 16 anos de carreira profissional.
Em jeito de sum&aacute;rio - porque a lista &eacute;, felizmente, bastante extensa -, Jo&atilde;o Sousa despediu-se de uma modalidade na qual somou quatro t&iacute;tulos no circuito maior em 12 finais, atingiu o 28.&ordm; do ranking ATP e somou in&uacute;meros feitos singulares no t&eacute;nis nacional. O maior deles todos ter&aacute; sido, certamente, conquistado neste palco, quando venceu a edi&ccedil;&atilde;o de 2018 do Millennium Estoril Open e se tornou no primeiro joagdor nacional a amealhar um trof&eacute;u na categoria mais elavada do t&eacute;nis masculino.&nbsp;
Obrigado por tudo, Jo&atilde;o.
&nbsp;

Obrigado por tudo, João!

Nuno Borges ditou o mote com uma vit&oacute;ria &eacute;pica e inesquec&iacute;vel (recuperou de 0-6 e 0-2 e ainda salvou um match point) contra o ex-top 10 Lucas Pouille na segunda-feira &ndash; e hoje, depois de um cancelamento de encontros sem precedentes na hist&oacute;ria do Millennium Estoril Open, podem juntar-se a ele outros tr&ecirc;s portugueses.
Entre mi&uacute;dos e gra&uacute;dos, e agora que a chuva j&aacute; l&aacute; vai, Jaime Faria (que joga pela primeira vez um quadro principal no ATP Tour), Henrique Rocha (de regresso ao palco onde h&aacute; um ano brilhou) e Jo&atilde;o Sousa (a disputar o &uacute;ltimo torneio da carreira) procuram faz&ecirc;-lo numa quarta-feira gorda que promete manter o Est&aacute;dio Millennium ao rubro. Mas n&atilde;o s&oacute;.
O primeiro jogador &lsquo;da casa&rsquo; a entrar em a&ccedil;&atilde;o ser&aacute; Jaime Faria, mas desta vez no Court Cascais. &Agrave; procura de um feito ainda mais dourado depois de j&aacute; ter feito hist&oacute;ria com duas vit&oacute;rias no qualifying, o estreante de 20 anos enfrenta o lucky loser David Jorda Sanchis num encontro que foge &agrave; regra por causa da entrada do espanhol para o lugar do franc&ecirc;s Constant Lestienne.
Mas a rivalidade Portugal-Fran&ccedil;a ser&aacute; recuperada pouco depois com o entusiasmante choque entre Jo&atilde;o Sousa e Arthur Fils, j&aacute; no Est&aacute;dio Millennium. O nosso campe&atilde;o de 2018 come&ccedil;ou a semana a celebrar o 35.&ordm; anivers&aacute;rio e tenta adiar ao m&aacute;ximo a despedida frente a um dos jovens mais promissores da atualidade &mdash; e o mais novo (19 anos) do top 50.
Depois, j&aacute; em sess&atilde;o noturna, os pap&eacute;is invertem-se e o ainda adolescente Henrique Rocha desafia o j&aacute; bem veterano, sempre carism&aacute;tico e pronto para dar espet&aacute;culo Gael Monfils num encontro de deixar &aacute;gua na boca e muito aguardado desde a realiza&ccedil;&atilde;o do sorteio do quadro principal de singulares. Mas h&aacute; mais motivos de interesse numa jornada recheada de a&ccedil;&atilde;o, com destaque para a estreia do talentoso Jo&atilde;o Fonseca em torneios ATP na Europa.

Um já está, venham mais três (e é de vez)

Merciless rainfall decimated Tuesday&rsquo;s schedule, with only two matches starting at the appointed time before being suspended due to rain. Botic van de Zandschulp and Federico Coria managed just three games &ndash; van de Zandschulp leading 3-0 &ndash; while Dominik Koepferand Pablo Llamas Ruiz scored two games each before the suspension.
Meanwhile, Joao Sousa and Gael Monfils treated fans to an exhibition training session under the roof of the Fun Center. Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop soon joined them on an adjacent court.
Roberto Bautista Agut brought a bit of much-needed sunshine as he signed autographs in the Smash Area. Later, Dominic Thiem and Duarte Vale braved the weather to hold a practice session on the outside courts.
As the rain continued in the afternoon, there was hope that matches may still go ahead. Unfortunately, the unforgiving weather forced the organization to call off the encounters planned for today.
Full refunds for the day&rsquo;s ticketholders will be applied automatically to the buyers&rsquo; accounts starting Monday, 8th April 2024.
With the forecast much more favoruable tomorrow, Wednesday&rsquo;s action will involve 13 matches.
Brazilian sensation 17-year-old Joao Fonseca will open the proceedings on Estadio Millennium against qualifier Jan Choinski, followed by Joao Sousa versus Arthur Fils, and Henrique Rocha against Gael Monfils.
On Court Cascais, Jaime Faria will play his second-round match against David Jorda Sanchis before making way for Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral, who take on seed No 2 Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul in the doubles draw.
Sousa and Fonseca will return to the court later in the afternoon for their first-round doubles match against Marcelo Demoliner and Sem Verbeek.

DAY 4 - CLOUDS OVER ESTORIL

As m&aacute;s not&iacute;cias confirmaram-se: a forte chuva que caiu no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril durante esta ter&ccedil;a-feira fez com a jornada fosse cancelada por volta das 17h45.
Com in&iacute;cio &agrave;s 11h30 nos courts exteriores, os duelos entre Dominik Koepfer e Pablo Llamas Ruiz (2-2) e de Federico Coria contra Botic Van De Zandschulp (3-0 para o &uacute;ltimo) foram suspensos cerca de 20 minutos depois do come&ccedil;o, ao passo que todos os embates do Est&aacute;dio Millennium - que iria abrir com o portugu&ecirc;s Jaime Faria face ao lucky loser espanhol David Jorda Sanchis - nem chegaram a iniciar-se.
Assim sendo, a ter&ccedil;a-feira gorda d&aacute; lugar a uma super quarta-feira, na qual a programa&ccedil;&atilde;o manter&aacute; a sua base. A representa&ccedil;&atilde;o nacional ficar&aacute; a cargo de Jaime Faria, Jo&atilde;o Sousa (na &uacute;ltima dan&ccedil;a de uma grandiosa carreira), Henrique Rocha (em sess&atilde;o noturna contra Gael Monfils) e a duas duplas com intervenientes portugueses: Sousa ao lado da coqueluche brasileira Jo&atilde;o Fonseca e os campe&otilde;es de 2022 Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral.

Chuva cancela jornada de terça-feira do Millennium Estoril Open

O Nuno Borges ditou o mote com uma vit&oacute;ria &eacute;pica e inesquec&iacute;vel &mdash;&nbsp;recuperou de 0-6 e 0-2 e ainda salvou um match point &mdash; contra o ex-top 10 Lucas Pouille para inscrever o nome na segunda ronda e hoje podem juntar-se a ele outros tr&ecirc;s portugueses.
Entre mi&uacute;dos e gra&uacute;dos, o Jaime Faria (que joga pela primeira vez um quadro principal), o Henrique Rocha (de regresso ao palco onde h&aacute; um ano brilhou) e o Jo&atilde;o Sousa (a disputar o &uacute;ltimo torneio da carreira) procuram faz&ecirc;-lo numa ter&ccedil;a-feira gorda que promete manter o Est&aacute;dio Millennium ao rubro... mas n&atilde;o s&oacute;.
No palco principal a a&ccedil;&atilde;o come&ccedil;a &agrave;s 12h com o jovem Jaime Faria (20 anos) &agrave; procura de um feito ainda mais dourado depois de j&aacute; ter feito hist&oacute;ria com duas vit&oacute;rias no qualifying.
O estreante enfrenta o lucky loser David Jorda Sanchis num encontro que foge &agrave; regra por causa da entrada do espanhol para o lugar do franc&ecirc;s Constant Lestienne, mas logo a seguir retomamos a rivalidade Portugal-Fran&ccedil;a com o entusiasmante choque entre Jo&atilde;o Sousa e Arthur Fils. O nosso campe&atilde;o de 2018 come&ccedil;ou a semana a celebrar o 35.&ordm; anivers&aacute;rio e tenta adiar ao m&aacute;ximo a despedida frente a um dos jovens mais promissores da atualidade &mdash; e o mais novo (19 anos) do top 50.
Depois, os pap&eacute;is invertem-se e o ainda adolescente Henrique Rocha desafia o j&aacute; bem veterano, sempre carism&aacute;tico e pronto para dar espet&aacute;culo Gael Monfils num encontro de deixar &aacute;gua na boca e muito aguardado desde a realiza&ccedil;&atilde;o do sorteio. Por essa altura j&aacute; no Court Cascais ter&aacute; havido outro choque entre lusos e gauleses, este com Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral a iniciarem mais um ataque ao t&iacute;tulo (que se tornou deles em 2022) frente a Sadio Doumbia e Fabien Reboul.

Um já está, venham mais três

On an overcast Monday afternoon at the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open, Nuno Borges served up the fans in attendance an epic feast as he pulled off a miracle escape. The Portuguese number one survived a thrashing in the first set and saved a match point in the second to beat Lucas Pouille 0-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes.
Pelted with a persistent drizzle, the start-and-stop nature of the match did not dampen the enthusiasm of the fans &ndash; both French and Portuguese &ndash; who turned up in force to support their favourites. With five encounters pitting players of both nations against each other in the singles and doubles draws combined, the day&rsquo;s atmosphere leaned towards that of Davis Cup. Chants and songs echoed around the stadium, roaring with the pride of two nations.
Returning to the courts after yesterday&rsquo;s win, Pouille threatened a knockout as he &lsquo;bagelled&rsquo; Borges in the first set.
The qualifier started the match by playing lights-out tennis. He quickly swept Borges aside in the first set and threatened to continue the onslaught with an early break in the second. However, staring down a crushing defeat, Borges suddenly came alive. Striking the ball with power and drawing acute angles out of his shots, he recovered the break and remained determined to fight for every inch of the red clay. The noise levels increased with every point for the Portuguese &ndash; the first pebbles in an avalanche of hope.
Borges briefly pulled ahead when he broke for 4-2, but the joy turned out to be shortlived as Pouille fought back. Borges continued battling through the second set, darting across the baseline with frequent forays to the net. Spurred on by home support, the Portuguese saved a match point in the tiebreak to equalise the match.
&ldquo;I was looking, I was thinking about what I could do, how I could respond,&rdquo; Borges said of his on-court struggles. &ldquo;I was thinking, &lsquo;Why am I not getting the points, what do I need to change&rsquo;. It was difficult because the truth is that I was feeling pretty good in training and that sometimes carries over into the game. Finding new solutions took me some time,&rdquo; he added.
When the final set began, Pouille no longer seemed certain of his game. Cracks started to appear on the surface, the Frenchman&rsquo;s shots lacking the unassailable confidence of the past hour. With the match tied at 3-3, Borges scored the decisive break. Three games later, as he converted the second match point, an explosion of noise engulfed him &ndash; Nuno, Nuno, Nuno.
&ldquo;I also wanted to have a good performance in front of so many fans here in Estoril &ndash; a tournament that I really wanted to be playing well in and I wasn't succeeding,&rdquo; Borges said. &ldquo;Maybe it made the task a little more difficult than it should have been.&rdquo;
In the next round, Borges will face third-seeded Lorenzo Musetti.
Earlier in the day, Miomir Kecmanovic, the runner-up of the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open, returned to the red clay of Estoril for a first-round encounter against Roberto Bautista Agut. The Serb, heading into the match with a lopsided head-to-head record of 0-6, was unable to break his duck against the Spaniard, losing 6-1, 7-5 in one hour and 24 minutes.
In July 2023 Bautista Agut suffered a substantial injury while tending to his horses in Castellon, keeping him sidelined for the remainder of the 2023 season. Following his win against Kecmanovic, the Spaniard expressed cautious optimism about his return to form.
&ldquo;[My game] looks better than at the beginning of the year, and I'm feeling good in the core [of my body] again. Feeling good physically, which is very important for me, and [I&rsquo;m] very happy about how I played,&rdquo; he said after the match.
As the match began, Bautista Agut was clinical &ndash; he struck the ball with power, threading exquisite passing shots past his opponent. The Spaniard broke Kecmanovic twice and closed out the first set 6-1 in just 32 minutes.
The Serb, for his part, appeared devoid of ideas &ndash; frequent errors plagued his game as he sought the edge with risky shotmaking.
At the start of the second set, Kecmanovic seemed to regroup. Determined to banish the demons, he returned to the court a different player. He upped his first-serve percentage and cut down the mistakes, winning the first game of the set to 15 and seeing two opportunities for a break in the second. Bautista Agut resisted, and both players carried through their following service games relatively untroubled.
At 5-5 with Kecmanovic serving &ndash; sun in his eyes &ndash; he missed a routine overhead shot with his opponent on the ropes. A couple of misfired forehands later, he was staring down a breakpoint which he conceded with yet another forehand wide. It proved fatal, allowing Bautista Agut to claim the second set 7-5.
&ldquo;Every win is very important after the injury. To start here with a win in two sets, it's very good. It's never easy [to play] the first match on clay, and I'm very happy about my performance,&rdquo; Bautista Agut added.
In the second round, Bautista Agut will face the winner of Tuesday&rsquo;s match between Daniel Altmaier and Pedro Martinez.
Dominic Thiem &ndash; recovering from a recurrent wrist injury which most recently kept him out of a Challenger Tour 75 event in Szekesfehevar, Hungary earlier in March &ndash; tested his mettle against a tough German opponent in Maximilian Marterer. Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, suffered a dip in form in the second set but ultimately came through, winning 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4 in two hours and 17 minutes.
&ldquo;I'm pain-free,&rdquo; said the Austrian after the match. &ldquo;I was putting down a bit the intensity in the last weeks of practice so that I'm ready for here, which is good. Obviously, it's a little bit of a day-by-day [situation]. But I'm having my physio here who&rsquo;s great. I have a day off tomorrow as well which helps. I should be ready for Wednesday,&rdquo; the Austrian said.
Thiem, showing no signs of his recent troubles, started the match briskly, breaking Marterer in the opening game. He saved three breakpoints, and promptly broke the German again. Soon after, it was game, set to the Austrian.
At 1-1 in the second set, Thiem&rsquo;s game faltered, and Marterer broke for a brief lead. As the match went on, Thiem saw two chances at recovering the break at 2-3 &ndash; both successfully defended &ndash; and finally broke Marterer back at 3-4. The German stepped up a gear. He painted the lines with deft strokes and pushed his opponent around the court, ultimately levelling the match in a tiebreak.
At 2-2 in the final set, Thiem brought fans to their feet with an exquisite dropshot-and-lob combo which culminated in three breakpoints. The Austrian converted with a powerful overhead, and despite failing to capitalise on a matchpoint when receiving at 4-5, he saw out the encounter to advance into the next round where he will face lucky loser Richard Gasquet.
Following a tightly contested loss to his compatriot Lucas Pouille, The French veteran re-enters the draw to replace Alejandro Davidovich Fokina who was forced to withdraw from the tournament with a dental infection.
In a late-night session on Estadio Millennium, Cristian Garin took on Jurij Rodionov for a place in the second round. The Chilean made things difficult for himself when he almost squandered a 5-2 lead, before ultimately claiming the first set in a tiebreak.
Rodionov continued the assault in the second set. He won his service games with relative ease while forcing Garin to battle for his. The Chilean hung on, saving a breakpoint in a tense game at 1-2, and four more at 2-3.
At 5-4 30-30, with Garin on serve, the skies opened up again and the play was stopped for the night. Garin and Rodionov are scheduled to continue the encounter tomorrow.
In the doubles draw, the defending champions Sander Gille and Joran Vliegensuffered a scare in their first-round match against Serbia&rsquo;s Nikola Cacic and Ukraine&rsquo;s Denys Molchanov. The Belgian pairing, seeded number one, lost the first set before recovering in the second to ultimately clinch the match in a super tiebreak with a 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 score.
They advance to the next round and will face the other winners of the day, Matwe Middelkoop and Sander Arends. The Dutch pairing took out Ecuador&rsquo;s Diego Hidalgo and Colombia&rsquo;s Cristian Rodriguez in straight sets, winning 6-3, 6-1.
In other main draw news, David Jorda Sanchis becomes the second lucky loser to re-enter the tournament. He replaces Constant Lestienne who withdrew with a left knee injury.

DAY 3 – THE GREAT ESCAPE

Quando tudo parecia perdido, o n&uacute;mero um nacional Nuno Borges veio das catacumbas para bater o antigo top 10 Lucas Pouille (atual 241.&ordm;) por 0-6, 7-6(6) e 6-3, salvando um match point para se impor em 2h22.
Na verdade, o maiato de 27 anos (62.&ordm;, ex-46.&ordm; em fevereiro) precisou de anular uma desvantagem de 6-0 e 2-0. Com muito apoio do p&uacute;blico que encheu o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e resistiu &agrave; chuva que foi ca&iacute;ndo - o duelo chegou a ser interrompido cerca de 30 minutos na fase final do segundo parcial -, Borges garantiu acesso &agrave; segunda ronda do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal pela terceira vez em quatro participa&ccedil;&otilde;es.
"Com muito cora&ccedil;&atilde;o e pouco t&eacute;nis", considerou o pr&oacute;prio no rescaldo com os jornalistas, o certo &eacute; que Nuno Borges mostrou mesmo uma resili&ecirc;ncia de guerreiro. N&atilde;o s&oacute; para entrar no encontro ap&oacute;s ceder os oito primeiros jogos, como tamb&eacute;m para anular um match point no tie-break do segundo set, resgatado atrav&eacute;s de um grande servi&ccedil;o.&nbsp;
No parcial tira-teimas, o portugu&ecirc;s agarrou o ascendente no s&eacute;timo jogo para celebrar efusivamente e em comunh&atilde;o com os presentes.
Segue-se um embate agendado contra o talentoso italiano Lorenzo Musetti, terceiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e 24.&ordm; do ranking mundial.

Nuno Borges salva match point e opera épica recuperação 

Dominic Thiem (93.&ordm; ATP) despachou o alem&atilde;o Maximilian Marterer (97.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-1, 6-7(3) e 6-4 e garantiu um duelo espet&aacute;culo de segunda eliminatoria contra Richard Gasquet.
A competir no Millennium Estoril Open pelo terceiro ano consecutivo, o antigo terceiro melhor jogador do mundo e campe&atilde;o do Us Open de 2020 superou um tie-break menos conseguido (depois de ter recuperado de desvantagem no segundo parcial) e mostrou sempre ter mais solu&ccedil;&otilde;es do que Marterer, caribando o triunfo em 2h15 para g&aacute;udio do p&uacute;blico que encheu o Est&aacute;dio Milllennium.
Para repetir os quartos de final de 2023, o austr&iacute;aco ter&aacute; de ultrapassar um advers&aacute;rio tamb&eacute;m de uma fabulosa esquerda a uma m&atilde;o: Richard Gasquet. O franc&ecirc;s, campe&atilde;o inaugural da maior prova de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, foi repescado para o quadro principal depois da desist&ecirc;ncia de Alejandro Davidovich Fokina devido a uma infe&ccedil;&atilde;o nos dentes. Como o espanhol era quarto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, Gasquet passou diretamente &agrave; segunda ronda ao entrar como lucky loser.
Antes de Thiem, Roberto Bautista Agut (93.&ordm;, ex-nono e semefinalista de Wimbledon) foi o primeiro a festejar no quadro principal e somou a primeira vit&oacute;ria no Millennium Estoril Open (cedeu na estreia h&aacute; um ano) ao bater o s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (50.&ordm;), sexto pr&eacute;-designado e finalista da &uacute;ltima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o, pela sexta vez em seis frente a frentes entre ambos. Neste caso, o sucesso deu-se por 6-1 e 7-5 em 1h25, encerrando o compromisso inaugural do quadro principal da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o sem ceder o servi&ccedil;o e depois de apresentar um excelente n&iacute;vel de jogo.

Dominic Thiem entra a ganhar no Millennium Estoril Open e marca encontro de esquerdas a uma mão

Lembram-se do Euro 2016? No Millennium Estoril Open n&atilde;o temos o &Eacute;der, mas temos o Francisco, o Jaime, o Henrique, o Nuno e o Jo&atilde;o. Confusos? Entre singulares e pares teremos, na primeira ronda, nada mais, nada menos do que cinco encontros entre portugueses e franceses. E estamos prontos para celebrar outra vez.
O primeiro cap&iacute;tulo desenrola-se j&aacute; esta segunda-feira em pleno Est&aacute;dio Millennium, o palco do encontro entre Nuno Borges e Lucas Pouille. O n&uacute;mero um nacional &eacute; o primeiro jogador da casa a ir a jogo no quadro principal e regressa &agrave; terra batida com a primeira miss&atilde;o de igualar a segunda ronda alcan&ccedil;ada nas duas edi&ccedil;&otilde;es anteriores. Pela frente ter&aacute; um dos jogadores com melhor curr&iacute;culo de todo o elenco (j&aacute; esteve no top 10 mundial e foi semifinalista do Australian Open), que furou a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o com distin&ccedil;&atilde;o ao derrotar o compatriota Richard Gasquet &mdash;&nbsp;sempre muito acarinhado pelo p&uacute;blico do Millennium Estoril Open, que aplaudiu de p&eacute; a despedida do campe&atilde;o de 2015.
Este foi um dos encontros a ficar definido com a conclus&atilde;o do qualifying. O outro colocou frente-a-frente o tenista sensa&ccedil;&atilde;o do fim de semana, o estreante Jaime Faria, com Constant Lestienne. Antes, o sorteio j&aacute; tinha ditado bra&ccedil;os de ferro de Jo&atilde;o Sousa com Arthur Fils e de Henrique Rocha com Gael Monfils, mas tamb&eacute;m um choque nos pares entre Nuno Borges/Francisco Cabral e Sadio Doumbia/Fabien Reboul.
Preparem as palmas e afinem as gargantas, o quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open come&ccedil;a agora e o espet&aacute;culo est&aacute; garantido &mdash; ou n&atilde;o fosse esta a terra do espet&aacute;culo. Contra os franceses ganhar, ganhar.

Heróis do Mar, Enfants de la Patrie

Day two of the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open saw eight qualifiers play their final matches with the four spots in the main draw at stake.
Jaime Faria began the proceedings on Estadio Millennium to raucous home support, scoring the biggest win of his career, as he overcame Lucas Klein 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1. The Portuguese, who joins his compatriots Nuno Borges, Henrique Rocha, and Joao Sousa in the main draw, vanquished an opponent ranked over 150 places above him.
&ldquo;It's an incredible moment and a great start to the season,&rdquo; Faria said after the match. &ldquo;I think this is the reward for the work I did at the end of last year, and even [throughout] last year. With the atmosphere it was in today, there were emotions that I hadn't felt before.&rdquo;
Faria started the encounter on a strong footing, seeing three chances to break in the first game. Klein resisted, and himself threatened a breakpoint in the following game. In the end, it was the Portuguese who drew the first blood, converting the decisive point for a 3-2 lead. Both players swapped service games from there, and Faria held on for the set.
At 2-1 in the second set, Faria&rsquo;s loose serving gave Klein a window back into the match. The Slovak broke his opponent for a 3-1 lead but was unable to capitalise on the advantage, dropping his serve in the following game.
At 4-4, the skies &ndash; up until now splattered with blots of grey &ndash; suddenly threatened rain, and as the first droplets turned into a drizzle, the play was stopped.
During the break, Klein sought medical assistance, and once the players returned to the court, the set was soon being decided in a tiebreak. In the decider, Klein scored an early mini-break, levelling the match with a 7-6(3) score in the second set.
Despite the setback, Faria didn&rsquo;t allow his intensity to drop. At 2-1 in the final set, the Portuguese earned three breakpoints, eventually converting at the third asking. From then on, he never relented his grip on the encounter, breaking Klein once more at 4-1, and serving out the match in style with three 200km/h bullets.
&ldquo;I was focused from point to point, not thinking so much about what was going to happen, even if I scored the initial break,&rdquo; Faria said. &ldquo;I held up well, I had to switch gears, [but] I knew that with the change of balls [at 1-1 in the third set], I could start well and make the break right from the start. I think I did well. I managed to implement my game a little more.&rdquo;
With the victory, Jaime Faria secured his place in the main draw, continuing a remarkable streak of 23 consecutive wins. He will face Frenchman Constant Lestienne in Tuesday&rsquo;s first-round match.
Elsewhere on Court Cascais, an all-Spanish encounter saw Pablo Llamas Ruiz triumph over David Jorda Sanchis with a 6-2, 7-6(2) win. The match was briefly interrupted by rain, with Llamas Ruiz leading 5-4 in the second set, and after the break, the Spaniard dispatched with his compatriot in the tiebreak. Llamas Ruiz will play Dominik Koepfer in the main draw on Tuesday.
The following match on Court Cascais pitted the last remaining Portuguese player, Duarte Vale, against Great Britain&rsquo;s Jan Choinski. Choinski played an impressive match, booking a spot in the main draw with a decisive 6-3, 6-4 victory. Although Vale fought valiantly, he fell behind from the start, and despite recovering one break at 1-5 in the first set, he eventually succumbed to the Brit in two sets.
Asked about the loss, Vale delivered a withering assessment of his game. &ldquo;I think it was definitely my service [that let me down],&rdquo; the Portuguese said. &ldquo;I served pretty poorly today, especially on the second serve. I don't know how many other mistakes I made, but there were certainly too many.
&ldquo;At the back of the court, I maintained my game, I was playing well, I was good with the ball. But I ended up giving up a lot of points with my serve and that&rsquo;s difficult. He played well and he knows how to take advantage of opportunities. I put myself in a complicated situation.&rdquo;
The Portuguese rallied briefly, winning three games at the end of the first set and breaking early in the second, but eventually ended up outclassed by his opponent. Choinski will now face the Brazilian prodigy, 17-year-old Joao Fonseca on Tuesday.
The highlight of the day was the high-octane duel between two former top-10 players competing for the last spot in the main draw. Once the dust settled, Lucas Pouille emerged victorious, beating his fellow countryman Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
&ldquo;I'm trending in the right direction,&rdquo; Pouille said after the match. &ldquo;I've been playing well for the last eight, 10 months. I just haven't been able to play for two months in a row. It's the first time in three or four years that I'm able to do it. So I'm playing well.&rdquo;
Pouille began the match poorly, giving up a break in the first game. He allowed Gasquet two further breakpoints at 3-1, and three more at 4-2. Despite surviving the storm, Pouille was unable to recover the deficit, and Gasquet took the first set, serving it out for 6-4.
At 3-2 in the second set, with both players on serve, the pair played a seesaw of a game with the scoreboard ticking over fifteen times. Despite the four opportunities to break, Pouille was unable to penetrate his opponent&rsquo;s inspired defence, and the score stood even. However, Pouille did manage to break Gasquet soon after, while receiving at 3-4, and consequently served out the set to level the match.
&ldquo;I had some opportunities at the beginning of the second set,&rdquo; Pouille assessed. &ldquo;I had some breakpoints [but] I didn't manage to convert them. Then, when I broke him, I think I started to play better. I was more aggressive. From that moment, I was better.&rdquo;
Starting the final set, the younger of the two Frenchmen grasped the occasion with both hands. He broke Gasquet in the first and third games, while himself serving confidently, and soon sat atop a 4-0 lead, ultimately claiming the final set 6-2.
Following his qualification, Pouille has been drawn against Nuno Borges.
&ldquo;He's a great player. He has had good results lately,&rdquo; Pouille said of Borges. &ldquo;I know it's going to be a tough one, probably with a good atmosphere. I'm looking forward to it.&rdquo;
With four French-Portuguese encounters in the main draw of singles and one in doubles, the atmosphere is bound to be electric. &ldquo;I won't have the crowd behind me, that's for sure. &hellip; I have my French crowd, French fans who were here [today]. So hopefully we can play a great game,&rdquo; Pouille said when asked about the prospect of facing the Portuguese number one.
Elsewhere on the grounds, eagle-eyed fans could spot Dominic Thiem practising before his match against Maximilian Marterer. The 2020 US Open champion joins Miomir Kecmanovic, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Nuno Borges in an exciting Monday line up. Other familiar faces on the practice courts included Gael Monfils and Joao Sousa who will play on Tuesday.

DAY 2 - INTO THE FOLD

O encontro do dia da derradeira jornada da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o n&atilde;o desapontou. Lucas Pouille e Richard Gasquet j&aacute; figuraram no top 10 ATP, coquistaram t&iacute;tulos no circuito principal e atingiram meias-finais em provas do Grand Slam. No fim de contas, Pouille superou o campe&atilde;o inaugural do Millennium Estoril Open.
4-6, 6-3 e 6-2 foram os parciais do duelo, resolvido ao cabo de 2h20. J&aacute; nesta segunda-feira, o semifinalista do Australian Open e vencedor de cinco trof&eacute;us ATP em nove finais ter&aacute; pela frente o n&uacute;mero um nacional Nuno Borges, num embate referente &agrave; primeira ronda da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o maior.
A vit&oacute;ria do mais novo (30 anos contra 37) e menos cotado (242.&ordm; face a 120.&ordm;) foi a sexta no mano em oito confrontos. Lucas Pouille amealhou mais chances (12) para fazer o break, defendeu melhor o segundo servi&ccedil;o (66% de aproveitamento contra 43% de Gasquet), salvou oito de nove oportunidades no seu pr&oacute;prio golpe de sa&iacute;da e tamb&eacute;m conseguiu ser superior fisicamente no parcial decisivo.

Lucas Pouille vence duelo de ex-top 10 e garante última vaga no quadro principal 

N&atilde;o um, n&atilde;o dois, n&atilde;o tr&ecirc;s, n&atilde;o quatro, mas cinco: a primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open ter&aacute; nada mais, nada menos do que cinco encontros entre jogadores portugueses e franceses, quatro deles em singulares.
No s&aacute;bado, o sorteio do quadro principal de singulares colocou Jo&atilde;o Sousa frente-a-frente com Arthur Fils e Henrique Rocha com Gael Monfils, mas tamb&eacute;m Nuno Borges/Francisco Cabral contra Sadio Doumbia/Fabien Reboul.
J&aacute; este domingo, com a conclus&atilde;o do qualifying, Jaime Faria &mdash; que brilhou na estreia em torneios do circuito ATP &mdash; marcou encontro com Constant Lestienne, enquanto Nuno Borges ficou a saber que ter&aacute; pela frente Lucas Pouille.
O primeiro destes cinco cap&iacute;tulos ser&aacute; escrito j&aacute; na segunda-feira, o dia de estreia para Nuno Borges frente ao qualifier que j&aacute; fez parte do top 10 e que colocou um ponto final no regresso de Richard Gasquet, o primeiro campe&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open (em 2015).

Portugal-França vezes cinco na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open

Um dia depois da segunda vit&oacute;ria a n&iacute;vel ATP, dez anos depois da primeira, Duarte Vale (581.&ordm; do ranking) foi eliminado na ronda de acesso ao quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open depois ceder face ao brit&acirc;nico Jan Choinski (169.&ordm;) por 6-3 e 6-4.
A m&aacute; entrada no duelo (5-0) pesou no desfecho do set inaugural, apesar da rea&ccedil;&atilde;o tardia ter feito acreditar numa reviravolta no compromisso, at&eacute; pelo in&iacute;cio de rompante no segundo parcial.
Um dia menos bom no cap&iacute;tulo do servi&ccedil;o (11 duplas faltas e somente oito pontos conquistados com a segunda bola de sa&iacute;da) deixou-o muitas vezes em maus len&ccedil;&oacute;is e prejudicou o portugu&ecirc;s natural de Cascais (25 anos), que ainda assim mostrou muito bom n&iacute;vel de fundo do court frente a um opostior bem melhor cotado.&nbsp;
Jan Choinski juntou-se, assim, a Jaime Faria e ao espanhol Pablo Llamas Ruiz no quadro principal da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open com vagas oriundas da fase preliminar.&nbsp;

Duarte Vale fica à porta do quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open

Jaime Faria selou um fim de semana de sonho e apurou-se para o quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open.
A disputar pela primeira vez um torneio do circuito ATP, o jovem portugu&ecirc;s de 20 anos (287.&ordm; classificado no ranking ATP) voltou a pisar o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e desta vez&nbsp;celebrou a melhor vit&oacute;ria da carreira ao derrotar o eslovaco Lukas Klein (128.&ordm;) pelos parciais de 6-4, 6-7(3) e 6-1.
De volta ao Est&aacute;dio Millennium um dia depois da entrada com o p&eacute; direito no maior torneio organizado em Portugal, Jaime Faria voltou a superar-se.
O jogador do Centro de Alto Rendimento da Federa&ccedil;&atilde;o Portuguesa de T&eacute;nis bateu-se de igual para igual com um advers&aacute;rio que este ano for&ccedil;ou Alexander Zverev ao&nbsp;match tie-break do quinto&nbsp;set em pleno Australian Open e n&atilde;o olhou a favoritismos.
Apesar de estar a viver a primeira experi&ecirc;ncia a este n&iacute;vel, Faria demonstrou ter armas para batalhar com Klein e reagiu bem &agrave; perda da segunda partida (que chegou a ser interrompida pela chuva) no tie-break para descolar na terceira depois de anular dois pontos de break logo a abrir.&nbsp;
Superado o&nbsp;qualifying, segue-se o quadro principal. E o pr&oacute;ximo advers&aacute;rio at&eacute; pode falar a mesma l&iacute;ngua, dado que o portugu&ecirc;s Nuno Borges &mdash; um dos seus parceiros de treino &mdash; e o brasileiro Jo&atilde;o Fonseca s&atilde;o dois dos que aguardam pelo desfecho da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o. Dominik Koepfer e Constant Lestienne s&atilde;o as restantes possibilidades.

Jaime Faria brilha e apura-se para o quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open

As the sun rose on a Saturday morning, the persistent rain &ndash; battering the Portuguese coast over the past week &ndash; relented, and the 2024 Millennium Estoril Open kicked off under a blue sky. The tournament, starting over the Easter weekend, returned for its ninth edition with an action-packed qualifying round &ndash; a rebirth, a new beginning &ndash; and with that, we were off to the races.
QUALIFYING
Two former top-10 players, Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Lucas Pouille, led the pack of hopefuls trying to break into the main draw. They were joined by a six-strong Portuguese contingent and eight players representing seven different nations in a diverse and exciting qualifying round.
Jaime Faria &ndash; whose recent performances, including four titles in a row at M25 tournaments in the Algarve, saw him jump to world No 262 in the live rankings &ndash; scored his first ATP Tour victory, and booked a place in the second qualifying round with a thrilling win over Hungarian Mate Valkusz.
The Portuguese overcame an early setback, rallying back from down a break at the start of the first set, to claim a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Tomorrow, he will face Slovakia&rsquo;s Lukas Kleinfor a place in the main draw. The Slovakian No 1 proved too strong for his opponent, Portuguese Pedro Araujo, winning 6-3, 6-0 in just over an hour.
Meanwhile, on Court Cascais, Cascais-born Duarte Vale needed a little over an hour to secure a spot in the final round of the qualifying draw. Facing off against Germany&rsquo;s Hendrik Jebens, the Portuguese bagged an early break in the first set and broke his opponent twice more in the second for a confident 6-4, 6-2 victory. Next, he will face Great Britain&rsquo;s Jan Choinski who defeated Francisco Rocha, winning 7-5, 6-1.
Richard Gasquet needed less than 90 minutes to defeat Gastao Elias 6-3, 6-2, setting up a mouthwatering duel of former top-10s against Lucas Pouille in the final qualifying round. The French veteran made a blistering start to the match by serving confidently and breaking Elias in a tense game for a 3-0 lead. Elias, despite playing at a high level, lacked the edge to put his opponent to the test and failed to convert all five of the breakpoints he saw throughout the remainder of the set. Gasquet broke early in the second set, and then once more at 4-2, for an unassailable lead before serving off the win in style.
Lucas Pouille pulled out all the stops as he fought back to recover a break in both sets of his match against Frederico Ferreira Silva, ultimately winning 7-5, 6-4. The Frenchman staved off an immediate threat of the first set slipping away, breaking his opponent at the third asking while receiving at 4-5. Having then reeled off three consecutive games to claim the first set, he once again fell behind at the start of the second, but managed to elevate his game, breaking Ferreira Silva twice for the victory.
David Jorda Sanchis battled through a gruelling, two-hour and 17-minute encounter against Mikhail Kukushkin, coming through with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win. In the final qualifying round, he will face his compatriot, Pablo Llamas Ruiz, who needed just 47 minutes to triumph over Ukraine&rsquo;s Eric Vanshelboim in a 6-1, 6-0 win.
&nbsp;
THE DRAW
In addition to the excitement of the qualifying round, the first day of the tournament also saw the main draw announced.
Several high-profile encounters take place in the first round of the singles draw, allowing fans to watch tennis at the highest level from the very beginning.
Miomir Kecmanovic, the runner-up of last year&rsquo;s tournament, was dealt a tough first-round draw against Roberto Bautista Agut. The Spaniard, former world No 9, is a familiar face to Portuguese fans, having played at the Millennium Estoril Open several times, most recently in 2023 when he lost in the round of 16 to Quentyn Halys.
Portuguese tennis legend, Joao Sousa, begins his farewell tour facing the number five seed, Arthur Fils. Sousa, the winner of the 2018 Millennium Estoril Open, received a wild card into the main draw, allowing him to say goodbye to his adoring fans on the very courts where he triumphed six years ago.
The top three seeds &ndash; world No 8 Casper Ruud, world No 9 Hubert Hurkacz, and world No 24 Lorenzo Musetti &ndash; all get a bye in the first round and will await their opponents from the first-round matches. Ruud, the defending champion, will play against the winner of Federico Coria versus Botic Van De Zandschulp, Hurkacz will face the victor of the encounter between the Brazilian prodigy, 17-year-old Joao Fonseca &ndash; the recipient of the second wild card &ndash; and a qualifier, whereas Musetti awaits the result of the match between the Portuguese No 1, Nuno Borges, against a qualifier.
The final Millennium Estoril Open wild card went to Henrique Rocha. The 19-year-old Porto native &ndash; who last Sunday lifted his first Challenger Tour trophy in Murcia &ndash; will face off against Gael Monfils. The charismatic Frenchman returns to the courts of the Millennium Estoril Open after losing to Spain&rsquo;s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals of the 2019 edition. Davidovich Fokina, also making a comeback to the Millennium Estoril Open, is seeded as number four and gets a bye in the first round. In the second round, he will play the winner of Maximilian Marterer versus the 2020 US Open champion, Dominic Thiem.
In the doubles draw, the defending champions and seed number one pairing, Belgium&rsquo;s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, begin their campaign against Serbia&rsquo;s Nikola Cacicand Ukraine&rsquo;s Denys Molchanov.
The 2022 Millennium Estoril Open champions, home favourites Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral, have a tough draw in the seed number two French pairing Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. Uruguayan Ariel Behar and Czech Adam Pavlasek, seeded with number three, face off against Monaco&rsquo;s Romain Arneodo and Austria&rsquo;s Sam Weissborn whereas the fourth seed, Ecuador&rsquo;s Gonzalo Escobar and Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Aleksandr Nedovyesov will face Argentina&rsquo;s Pedro Cachin and Spain&rsquo;sPedro Martinez.
The first wild card in the doubles draw went to a Portuguese pairing of Jaime Faria and Henrique Rocha who meet Romania&rsquo;s Victor Cornea and Czech Petr Nouza in the first round of the draw. The second doubles wild card was awarded to Joao Sousa. O Conquistador (The Conqueror), as he is known to fans, teams up with Joao Fonseca. The man at the end of his career and the boy at the beginning of his will surely deliver a match for the ages as they take on Brazil&rsquo;s Marcelo Demoliner and Netherland&rsquo;s Sam Verbeek.

DAY 1 – THE SPECTACLE BEGINS

O encontro do dia sorriu a Richard Gasquet, que levou a melhor contra Gast&atilde;o Elias e ficou com a &uacute;ltima vaga na &uacute;ltima ronda do qualifying.
Campe&atilde;o da primeira edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, em 2015, franc&ecirc;s de 37 anos (atualmente no 120.&ordm; lugar de um ranking em que j&aacute; foi s&eacute;timo) triunfou pelos parciais de 6-3 e 6-2 no &uacute;ltimo encontro do Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
O frente-a-frente deste s&aacute;bado foi o primeiro entre o virtuoso tenista franc&ecirc;s, muito aclamado pela pancada de esquerda a uma m&atilde;o que continua a ser considerada uma das mais bonitas do circuito, e o m&aacute;gico portugu&ecirc;s, que menos de 24 horas antes perdeu na segunda ronda do Challenger de Girona, na Catalunha.
Gasquet superiorizou-se logo no segundo jogo do encontro e esteve sempre na lideran&ccedil;a, mas Elias elevou o n&iacute;vel na reta final da primeira partida e esteve por duas vezes muito perto de recuperar o break de desvantagem: primeiro ao 2-4, depois ao 3-5, mas deixou fugir as cinco oportunidades que acumulou nos dois jogos.
Gast&atilde;o Elias tentava juntar-se a Jaime Faria e Duarte Vale, os dois portugueses que terminaram a jornada a sorrir, mas acabou por despedir-se na primeira ronda, tal como Pedro Ara&uacute;jo, Frederico Silva e ainda o estreante Francisco Rocha, que no &uacute;ltimo embate do dia no Court Cascais n&atilde;o teve argumentos para o brit&acirc;nico Jan Choinski (7-5 e 6-1).
No domingo, Richard Gasquet discutir&aacute; um lugar no quadro principal com o compatriota Lucas Pouille, que tal como ele j&aacute; fez parte do top 10 mundial.

Gastão Elias travado por ex-campeão Gasquet no primeiro encontro do dia

A competir apenas pela terceira vez depois de uma paragem de quatro meses para curar uma les&atilde;o no ombro esquerdo, Frederico Silva (354.&ordm; ATP) ainda serviu para vencer o parcial inaugural, mas acabou por sucumbir perante o franc&ecirc;s Lucas Pouille (242.&ordm;) com os parciais de 7-5 e 6-3.
O tenista natural das Caldas da Rainha (ex-168.&ordm; e a disputar o Millennium Estoril Open pela s&eacute;tima vez) conquistou um break nos intantes iniciais do duelo, serviu a 5-4 para resolver o primeiro set e ainda quebrou o servi&ccedil;o do antigo 10.&ordm; melhor do mundo a abrir o segundo parcial, mas Pouille fez valer a maior rodagem competitiva para se impor em 90 minutos de encontro.
Vencedor de cinco t&iacute;tulos ATP em nove finais e semifinalista do Australian Open de 2019, o gaul&ecirc;s de 30 anos poder&aacute; ter pela frente outro jogador da casa, caso Gast&atilde;o Elias supere o tamb&eacute;m gaul&ecirc;s Richard Gasquet.

Frederico Silva eliminado do Millennium Estoril Open por ex-top 10 

10 anos depois de ter participado e vencido pela primeira vez num torneio ATP, Duarte Vale voltou a sorrir e apurou-se para a segunda e &uacute;ltima ronda do&nbsp;qualifying do Millennium Estoril Open.
Destinat&aacute;rio de um dos dois&nbsp;wild cards &agrave; disposi&ccedil;&atilde;o da organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o, o jovem portugu&ecirc;s de 25 anos (atualmente no 581.&ordm; lugar do ranking mundial) venceu o&nbsp;alternate Hendrik Jebens (1109.&ordm;) por 6-4 e 6-2.
Inicialmente, Duarte Vale tinha encontro marcado com Vit Kopriva (116.&ordm;), mas o checo, que era o primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, desistiu adoentado.
Esta &eacute; a quarta participa&ccedil;&atilde;o de Duarte Vale num torneio ATP. A primeira aconteceu em 2014, ainda no Jamor, e as seguintes j&aacute; no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, em 2015 (derrota na primeira ronda do qualifying da primeira edi&ccedil;&atilde;o) e em 2023 (foi a jogo ao lado de Ben Shelton na variante de pares).
A uma vit&oacute;ria do quadro principal, o tenista de Cascais discutir&aacute; esse apuramento com o vencedor do encontro entre o compatriota Francisco Rocha (914.&ordm;), que recebeu o outro wild card, e o brit&acirc;nico Jan Choinski (169.&ordm;).

Duarte Vale vence pela primeira vez no Millennium Estoril Open e fica a um passo do quadro principal

A competir pela primeira vez num torneio do circuito principal, Jaime Faria ultrapassou a primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open ao superar o h&uacute;ngaro Mate Valkusz (214.&ordm; do ranking ATP) por 6-4 e 6-4.
Um pouco nervoso na fase inicial do embate pela ocasi&atilde;o solene na sua ainda curta carreira, Faria inverteu duas vezes desvantagens de break no parcial inaugural e nunca mais tirou o p&eacute; do acelerador. Apenas no derradeiro jogo do duelo precisou de anular tr&ecirc;s chances de Valkusz para sentenciar o compromisso em 1h45.
Embalado pelos quatro t&iacute;tulos consecutivos em provas ITF no Algarve - e, por isso, agora encontra-se no melhor posto da carreira ATP (287.&ordm;) -, o jovem de 20 anos somou o 21.&ordm; sucesso nos &uacute;ltimos 22 duelos e agendou frente a frente contra o eslovaco Lukas Klein (128.&ordm;), carrasco de Pedro Ara&uacute;jo (777.&ordm;) neste primeira dia da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open devido aos parcais de 6-3 e 6-0.
Em caso de nova celebra&ccedil;&atilde;o, Jaime Faria conseguir&aacute; carimbar acesso ao quadro principal do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s e amealhar o maior triunfo do seu palmar&eacute;s. A vit&oacute;ria desta s&aacute;bado foi a terceira melhor no que ao ranking do oponente diz respeito, apenas superada pelos &ecirc;xitos face a Timofey Skatov (130.&ordm;) e Hugo Grenier (143.&ordm;) em provas Challenger lusas de 2023.

Jaime Faria estreia-se em torneios ATP com um dos maiores triunfos da carreira

A horas do arranque da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril, seis jogadores portugueses definaram a respetiva sorte na fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em solo nacional.&nbsp;
Os maiores destaques s&atilde;o os embates de Gast&atilde;o Elias e Frederico Silva frente a antigos integrantes do top 10 ATP: Elias (313.&ordm; da hierarquia masculina, ex-57.&ordm;) vai medir for&ccedil;as contra o talentoso franc&ecirc;s Richard Gasquet (120.&ordm;, ex-s&eacute;timo), vencedor da primeira edi&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova (2015, um dos 16 t&iacute;tulos do curr&iacute;culo); o caldense (354.&ordm;, antigo 168.&ordm;) encara o tamb&eacute;m gaul&ecirc;s Lucas Pouille (242.&ordm;, outrora 10.&ordm; e semifinalista do Australian Open).
Jaime Faria foi o outro tenista nacional a entrar diretamente na fase preliminar. Agora 287.&ordm; do ranking ATP, fruto essencialmente dos quatro t&iacute;tulos consecutivos na s&eacute;rie de torneios ITF no Algarve, o jovem de 20 anos vai fazer a estreia no circuito principal contra o h&uacute;ngaro Mate Valkusz, 214.&ordm; e antigo n&uacute;mero um mundial de sub 18.
Pedro Ara&uacute;jo (777.&ordm;) repete a presen&ccedil;a de 2023, ao ingressar no quadro como alternate, e ter&aacute; pela frente o eslovaco Lukas Klein (128.&ordm;). Duarte Vale, um dos dois wild cards da organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o, regressa ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril contra o checo Vit Kopriva, 116.&ordm; ATP e mais cotado da fase pr&eacute;via.
O &uacute;ltimo convite ficou para Francisco Rocha (914.&ordm;), que tal como Jaime Faria vai competir pela primeira vez no circuito ATP. O irm&atilde;o mais velho de Henrique Rocha - tamb&eacute;m ele com wild card, mas para o quadro principal - juntou-se &agrave; competi&ccedil;&atilde;o no &uacute;ltimo instante devido &agrave; desist&ecirc;ncia de Luca Nardi (que libertou o wild card de Ara&uacute;jo ao entrar na vaga deixada pelo italiano) e do outro lado da rede ter&aacute; o brit&acirc;nico Jan Choinski (169.&ordm;).
O in&iacute;cio do qualifying tem hor&aacute;rio marcado para as 12 horas deste s&aacute;bado e os encontros dos seis portugueses dividem-se entre o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e o Court Cascais.

Gastão Elias e Frederico Silva encaram dois ex-top10 num qualifying do Millennium Estoril Open com seis portugueses

A pouco mais de duas semanas da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, a organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o divulgou hoje o destinat&aacute;rio do segundo wild card para o quadro principal de singulares do maior evento ten&iacute;stico nacional &mdash; que ir&aacute; decorrer entre 30 de mar&ccedil;o e 7 de abril nas instala&ccedil;&otilde;es do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
&ldquo;Quero agradecer este wild-card especial para o maior evento de Portugal. Estou muito feliz por disputar um dos melhores torneios ATP 250 do mundo e pela oportunidade de competir no meu primeiro torneio do ATP Tour na Europa&rdquo;, refere o atual campe&atilde;o mundial de juniores, Jo&atilde;o Fonseca. &ldquo;Sei do peso da comunidade brasileira em Portugal e estou ansioso por conhecer a &lsquo;Terra do Espet&aacute;culo&rsquo; na primeira semana de abril. Conto com a torcida de todos&rdquo;.
O jovem brasileiro terminou a &eacute;poca transata na lideran&ccedil;a do ranking mundial de sub-18 ao vencer o US Openna respetiva categoria, ap&oacute;s ser vice-campe&atilde;o de pares juniores no Open da Austr&aacute;lia; tamb&eacute;m liderou a sele&ccedil;&atilde;o brasileira &agrave; conquista da Junior Davis Cup. Este ano, j&aacute; est&aacute; a conseguir excelentes resultados no circuito profissional e a corresponder &agrave;s expectativas daqueles que o consideram um digno herdeiro de Gustavo &lsquo;Guga&rsquo; Kuerten &mdash; tricampe&atilde;o de Roland Garros e n&uacute;mero um mundial de 2000 ao vencer a Masters Cup(ATP Tour Finals) jogada em Lisboa.
&ldquo;Uma das tradi&ccedil;&otilde;es do Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; a aposta em jovens talentos e campe&otilde;es do futuro. Pelo Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril j&aacute; passaram Nick Kyrgios, Andrey Rublev, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Borna Coric, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger-Aliassime ou Carlos Alcaraz numa fase precoce das respetivas carreiras. Temos acompanhado o Jo&atilde;o Fonseca desde o ano passado e, ap&oacute;s uma not&aacute;vel &eacute;poca nos torneios j&uacute;nior do Grand Slam que fez dele campe&atilde;o mundial de sub-18, come&ccedil;ou o presente ano com meias-finais no forte Challenger de Buenos Aires e atingiu os quartos-de-final no ATP 500 do Rio de Janeiro&rdquo;, assinala o diretor do Millennium Estoril Open, Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o. &ldquo;Tem uma pancada de direita demolidora e nos bastidores j&aacute; h&aacute; muita gente a garantir, desde analistas a treinadores, que ele tem tudo para ser o novo Gustavo Kuerten&rdquo;.
Com 17 anos e 1m85 de altura, o jovem carioca &eacute; 342&ordm; no ranking mundial e o primeiro tenista nascido em 2006 a atingir a antepen&uacute;ltima fase de um evento do ATP Tour &mdash; ao bater o top 40 Arthur Fils e o ex-top 10 Cristian Garin a caminho dos quartos-de-final do Rio de Janeiro. &Eacute; o segundo mais jovem na hist&oacute;ria dos torneios ATP 500 a faz&ecirc;-lo e o primeiro desde que Alexander Zverev atingiu igual fase da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o em Hamburgo (2014). O seu primeiro brilharete no circuito profissional surgiu muito cedo, em 2022, ao atingir os quartos-de-final do Challenger de S&atilde;o Leopoldo; n&atilde;o foi por acaso que a On, a empresa de equipamento desportivo parcialmente detida por Roger Federer, escolheu o jovem brasileiro para se juntar aos consagrados Iga Swiatek e a Ben Shelton como embaixador da marca.
Os ingressos para o fim-de-semana das meias-finais e final &mdash; s&aacute;bado e domingo (6 e 7 de abril) &mdash; j&aacute; esgotaram com grande anteced&ecirc;ncia, assim como para o dia 2 Abril, a sess&atilde;o noturna do dia 5 de abril e para o primeiro s&aacute;bado do fim-de-semana do qualifying (30 mar&ccedil;o). Os ingressos para os restantes dias tamb&eacute;m est&atilde;o praticamente a esgotar e podem ser adquiridos nos locais habituais.

SEGUNDO WILD CARD ATRIBUÍDO: MENINO-PRODÍGIO BRASILEIRO JOÃO FONSECA COM CONVITE PARA QUADRO PRINCIPAL

A apresenta&ccedil;&atilde;o oficial da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do&nbsp;Millennium Estoril Open&nbsp;foi efetuada ao fim da manh&atilde; de hoje no&nbsp;Hotel Evolution Cascais-Estoril e incluiu a divulga&ccedil;&atilde;o da lista oficial de inscritos e diversas novidades associadas &agrave; competi&ccedil;&atilde;o. A cerim&oacute;nia teve como anfitri&atilde;o Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o, diretor do torneio, e contou com a participa&ccedil;&atilde;o de&nbsp;Francisco Kreye, vereador de desporto da&nbsp;C&acirc;mara Municipal de Cascais, e&nbsp;Miguel Maya, presidente da Comiss&atilde;o Executiva do&nbsp;Millennium bcp.&nbsp;Organizado pela&nbsp;3LOVE, o maior evento ten&iacute;stico nacional decorre entre&nbsp;30 de mar&ccedil;o e 7 de abril&nbsp;nas instala&ccedil;&otilde;es do&nbsp;Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
Na numerologia, o n&uacute;mero 9 simboliza integridade e sabedoria; ser&atilde;o nove as jornadas da nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do&nbsp;Millennium Estoril Open, com in&iacute;cio no fim-de-semana de P&aacute;scoa; tal como sucedeu em 2023, o novo posicionamento no calend&aacute;rio do&nbsp;ATP Tour&nbsp;faz com que o torneio luso abra a tradicional &eacute;poca europeia de terra batida e que beneficie das f&eacute;rias da P&aacute;scoa, estando preparadas m&uacute;ltiplas atividades dedicadas &agrave;s fam&iacute;lias e ao p&uacute;blico mais jovem. O&nbsp;Millennium Estoril Open&nbsp;&eacute; a grande festa do t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s e tamb&eacute;m um acontecimento incontorn&aacute;vel da vida s&oacute;cio-desportiva nacional.
&nbsp;
ELENCO DE PROTAGONISTAS
No que diz respeito aos competidores, destaca-se a presen&ccedil;a de dois tenistas do top 10 mundial pelo segundo ano consecutivo: o polaco&nbsp;Hubert Hurkacz, l&iacute;der das estat&iacute;sticas do&nbsp;ATP Tour&nbsp;no cap&iacute;tulo do servi&ccedil;o e campe&atilde;o de dois trof&eacute;us&nbsp;Masters 1000; e o noruegu&ecirc;s&nbsp;Casper Ruud, que regressa para defender o t&iacute;tulo com tr&ecirc;s presen&ccedil;as em finais de torneios do&nbsp;Grand Slam&nbsp;no curr&iacute;culo e em grande forma atual (foi vice-campe&atilde;o nas duas &uacute;ltimas semanas).
Do elenco de protagonistas com entrada direta fazem igualmente parte consagrados veteranos como&nbsp;Dominic Thiem, campe&atilde;o do&nbsp;US Open&nbsp;de 2020 e com mais tr&ecirc;s finais do&nbsp;Grand Slam&nbsp;jogadas (em&nbsp;Roland Garros&nbsp;e&nbsp;Open da Austr&aacute;lia), e&nbsp;Gael Monfils, um dos mais espetaculares tenistas de sempre. Entre 13 nacionalidades para j&aacute; representadas,&nbsp;Portugal&nbsp;tem a presen&ccedil;a assegurada de dois elementos &mdash;&nbsp;Nuno Borges&nbsp;entra diretamente e ter&aacute; a companhia de&nbsp;Jo&atilde;o Sousa; o melhor tenista luso de todos os tempos recebeu um wild card da organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o e despede-se da sua carreira profissional no palco da sua maior proeza: a vit&oacute;ria &lsquo;em casa&rsquo; na edi&ccedil;&atilde;o de 2018.
&nbsp;
A TERRA DO ESPET&Aacute;CULO
&ldquo;Ainda n&atilde;o sabemos quem ir&aacute; ganhar no dia 7 de abril, mas j&aacute; sabemos que ser&aacute; uma edi&ccedil;&atilde;o hist&oacute;rica com a despedida de um Conquistador que levou o t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s a &lsquo;mares nunca dantes navegados' e iremos prestar o devido tributo ao Jo&atilde;o Sousa com a ajuda dos adeptos nacionais. Em 2023 tivemos quase sempre casa cheia com v&aacute;rias lota&ccedil;&otilde;es esgotadas; este ano, vamos voltar a corresponder aos aficionados com um alargado leque de focos de interesse para todos aqueles que vir&atilde;o at&eacute; ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril ou que acompanhar&atilde;o os encontros nas v&aacute;rias plataformas multim&eacute;dia &agrave; disposi&ccedil;&atilde;o&rdquo;, sublinha&nbsp;Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o.&nbsp;&ldquo;Temos para j&aacute; pelo menos dois portugueses no quadro principal, dois tenistas do top 10 pela primeira vez no fecho das inscri&ccedil;&otilde;es, o regresso de um jogador t&atilde;o carism&aacute;tico como Gael Monfils e a garantia de um titular de torneios do Grand Slam como Dominic Thiem. Haver&aacute; a possibilidade de enriquecer o quadro mediante os dois wild-cards que ficam dispon&iacute;veis. Mas, independentemente dos protagonistas, o Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril ser&aacute; mesmo &lsquo;A Terra do Espet&aacute;culo&rsquo;, lema da campanha deste ano&rdquo;.
Na lista de entradas diretas destacam-se tamb&eacute;m os nomes de&nbsp;Miomir Kecmanovic, antigo n&uacute;mero um mundial de juniores e vice-campe&atilde;o h&aacute; um ano; de&nbsp;Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, um habitu&eacute; do torneio com duas meias-finais e dois quartos-de-final; de&nbsp;Lorenzo Musetti, um dos pontas-de-lan&ccedil;a da nova gera&ccedil;&atilde;o do t&eacute;nis italiano; e dos promissores franceses&nbsp;Arthur Fils, antigo campe&atilde;o j&uacute;nior do&nbsp;Orange Bowl&nbsp;que &eacute; o mais jovem tenista do top 100, e&nbsp;Arthur Cazaux, a grande revela&ccedil;&atilde;o da recente edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do&nbsp;Open da Austr&aacute;lia.
O formato competitivo do&nbsp;Millennium Estoril Open&nbsp;mant&eacute;m-se, com um quadro principal de singulares composto por 28 jogadores: 18 com acesso direto atrav&eacute;s do ranking revelados na apresenta&ccedil;&atilde;o de hoje, aos quais se juntam&nbsp;tr&ecirc;s wild cards&nbsp;(convidados da organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o),&nbsp;quatro qualifiers&nbsp;oriundos da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o,&nbsp;dois eventuais special exempts&nbsp;(jogadores que atinjam as meias-finais do&nbsp;Masters 1000 de Miami&nbsp;na semana anterior) e&nbsp;um eventual late entry&nbsp;(tenista bem rankeado que deseje jogar &agrave; &uacute;ltima hora).
&nbsp;
MUITO MAIS DO QUE T&Eacute;NIS
No plano corporate, o estatuto do&nbsp;Millennium Estoril Open&nbsp;surge refor&ccedil;ado em 2024:&nbsp;&ldquo;A nossa fam&iacute;lia de patrocinadores &eacute; fortalecida nesta nona edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do com a adi&ccedil;&atilde;o de reputadas empresas que v&ecirc;m complementar um conjunto de sponsors de grande prest&iacute;gio internacional&rdquo;, sublinha&nbsp;Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o. A&nbsp;C&acirc;mara Municipal de Cascais&nbsp;e o&nbsp;Millennium bcp, enquanto parceiros fundadores do projeto em 2015, mant&ecirc;m-se como pilares principais.
Juntamente com todos os preparativos montados pela organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o para valorizar a visita dos mais de 40 mil espetadores (nova anima&ccedil;&atilde;o nas bancadas com recurso a tecnologia, a estreia de backwalls digitais no Est&aacute;dio Millennium; maior oferta ten&iacute;stica nas zonas de entretenimento), os patrocinadores tamb&eacute;m contribuir&atilde;o para animar os visitantes nos seus espa&ccedil;os pr&oacute;prios e na &aacute;rea comum de marketing. As a&ccedil;&otilde;es de responsabilidade social prendem-se com a associa&ccedil;&atilde;o &agrave;&nbsp;Academia dos Champs, &agrave; iniciativa&nbsp;&lsquo;Carbono Zero&rsquo;&nbsp;no evento, a parceria com a&nbsp;Sociedade Ponto Verde&nbsp;e liga&ccedil;&atilde;o &agrave;&nbsp;Cercica&nbsp;com exposi&ccedil;&atilde;o de quadros para venda em leil&atilde;o de benefic&ecirc;ncia.&nbsp;
A programa&ccedil;&atilde;o complementar nas &aacute;reas da arte, m&uacute;sica, gastronomia e atividades inclui o&nbsp;Kids Place&nbsp;para os mais pequenos e o&nbsp;Fun Center&nbsp;(ativado pela&nbsp;Federa&ccedil;&atilde;o Portuguesa de T&eacute;nis) volta a oferecer muita anima&ccedil;&atilde;o. O&nbsp;Espa&ccedil;o Cascais&nbsp;contar&aacute; com uma escolinha de tr&acirc;nsito. Estar&atilde;o tamb&eacute;m em vigor parcerias com&nbsp;Associa&ccedil;&otilde;es de Estudantes&nbsp;e haver&aacute; uma grande variedade de comidas nas zonas de restaura&ccedil;&atilde;o (Food Court&nbsp;e&nbsp;Slice Restaurant). A mobilidade el&eacute;trica estar&aacute; novamente em destaque com a utiliza&ccedil;&atilde;o de bicicletas (BiCas), motas (Cooltra) e trotinetes (Link) entre as v&aacute;rias solu&ccedil;&otilde;es de desloca&ccedil;&atilde;o at&eacute; ao&nbsp;Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
Para quem n&atilde;o puder fazer a desloca&ccedil;&atilde;o, o&nbsp;Millenniumm Estoril Open&nbsp;garante acima de 2.900 horas de transmiss&atilde;o internacional &mdash; complementadas pelo extensivo acompanhamento nas diversas plataformas digitais do torneio (website, redes sociais) que permitir&aacute; aos adeptos viver todas as incid&ecirc;ncias relacionadas com a prova, tanto dentro como fora dos courts. O&nbsp;Eurosport&nbsp;ir&aacute; transmitir em direto todos os encontros agendados para o&nbsp;Est&aacute;dio Millennium&nbsp;(quatro por dia de segunda a sexta; duas meias-finais; final), tal como a&nbsp;TennisTV, o&nbsp;TVI Player&nbsp;e o&nbsp;Eurosport Player&nbsp;em stream; a final individual ser&aacute; transmitida igualmente em direto na&nbsp;CNN Portugal. As emiss&otilde;es ser&atilde;o enriquecidas com informa&ccedil;&atilde;o estat&iacute;stica resultante do sistema electr&oacute;nico&nbsp;Foxtenn, que estar&aacute; em vigor no apoio &agrave;s equipas de arbitragem.
Outras novidades ser&atilde;o anunciadas &mdash; e no dia&nbsp;30 de mar&ccedil;o&nbsp;tudo estar&aacute; pronto para o arranque da grande festa do t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s.
&nbsp;
LISTA DE INSCRITOS
Entrada direta
<ul>
<li>Hubert Hurkacz (Pol&oacute;nia, 27 anos), 8&ordm;</li>
<li>Casper Ruud (Noruega, 25 anos), 9&ordm;</li>
<li>Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Espanha, 24 anos), 23&ordm;</li>
<li>Lorenzo Musetti (It&aacute;lia, 22 anos) 26&ordm;</li>
<li>Arthur Fils (Fran&ccedil;a, 19 anos), 43&ordm;</li>
<li>Miomir Kecmanovic (S&eacute;rvia, 24 anos), 47&ordm;</li>
<li>Dominik Koepfer (Alemanha, 29 anos), 49&ordm;</li>
<li>Daniel Altmaier (Alemanha, 25 anos), 53&ordm;</li>
<li>Gael Monfils (Fran&ccedil;a, 37 anos), 54&ordm;</li>
<li>Nuno Borges (Portugal, 27 anos), 60&ordm;</li>
<li>Marton Fucsovics (Hungria, 32 anos), 74&ordm;</li>
<li>Arthur Cazaux (Fran&ccedil;a, 21 anos), 77&ordm;</li>
<li>Pedro Cachin (Argentina, 28 anos), 79&ordm;</li>
<li>Botic van de Zandschulp (Holanda, 28 anos), 82&ordm;</li>
<li>Cristian Garin (Chile, 27 anos), 87&ordm;</li>
<li>Pedro Martinez (Espanha, 26 anos), 89&ordm;</li>
<li>Federico Coria (Argentina, 31 anos), 90&ordm;</li>
<li>Dominic Thiem (&Aacute;ustria, 30 anos), 91&ordm;</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
Wild Cards
<ul>
<li>Jo&atilde;o Sousa (Portugal, 34 anos), 275&ordm;</li>
<li>WC a definir</li>
<li>WC a definir&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Alternates
<ul>
<li>Maximilian Marterer (Alemanha, 28 anos), 95&ordm;</li>
<li>Jurij Rodionov (&Aacute;ustria, 24 anos), 96&ordm;</li>
<li>Roberto Bautista Agut (Espanha, 35 anos), 98&ordm;</li>
<li>Constant Lestienne (Fran&ccedil;a, 31 anos), 100&ordm;</li>
<li>Nagal Sumit (&Iacute;ndia, 26 anos), 101&ordm;</li>
<li>Alberto Ramos-Vinolas (Espanha, 36 anos), 102&ordm;</li>
<li>Quentin Halys (Fran&ccedil;a, 27 anos), 104&ordm;</li>
<li>Corentin Moutet (Fran&ccedil;a, 24 anos), 105&ordm;</li>
</ul>
&nbsp;
NOTA:&nbsp;Ranking de 4 de mar&ccedil;o, data limite das inscri&ccedil;&otilde;es. O sorteio do quadro principal &eacute; realizado no dia&nbsp;30 de Mar&ccedil;o, &agrave;s&nbsp;15 horas.

The official presentation of this year&rsquo;s Millennium Estoril Open took place in the early afternoon on the 5th of March 2024 at the Hotel Evolution Cascais-Estoril.
Hosted by Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o, the tournament director &mdash; who was joined by Francisco Kreye, the City Councillor for Sports in Cascais, and Miguel Maya, president of the Executive Committee of Millennium bcp &mdash; the ceremony presented an improved version of an iconic event on the Portuguese Riviera.
Organised by 3LOVE, the Millennium Estoril Open returns for its ninth edition and will be held between the 30th of March and the 7th of April 2024 at the Estoril Tennis Club. As last year, the tournament&rsquo;s position in the tennis calendar means that it will mark the opening of the European clay court season, and will benefit from the Easter holidays, allowing fans to enjoy high-quality tennis as well as multiple activities dedicated to families and younger audiences.
Once again, the Millennium Estoril Open is proud to announce a star-studded line-up, with two top 10 players scheduled to appear on the red clay of Estoril. Norway&rsquo;s Casper Ruud, three-time Slam finalist and current world No 9, returns to defend his 2023 title, whereas Poland&rsquo;s Hubert Hurkacz, world No 8 and a two-time Masters 1000 champion, will be looking to continue his strong start to the 2024 season.
The duo are joined by high-profile players such as Dominic Thiem, 2020 US Open champion and a three-time Slam finalist, veteran Gael Monfils, former world No 6 and one of the most entertaining players on Tour, joined by Miomir Kecmanovic, former junior world No 1 and Millennium Estoril Open runner-up a year ago; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, a tournament regular with two semi-finals and two quarter-finals; Lorenzo Musetti, one of the spearheads of the new generation of Italian tennis; and the promising Frenchmen Arthur Fils, former Orange Bowl junior champion and the youngest tennis player in the top 100, and Arthur Cazaux, the revelation of this year&rsquo;s Australian Open.
Fans on the ground will also be able to witness an emotional goodbye, as Jo&atilde;o Sousa, Portugal&rsquo;s most decorated male tennis player and the Millennium Estoril Open champion in 2018, receives a wild card into the last tournament of his career. Following the event, Sousa will hang up the racquet, calling time on close to two decades of an illustrious career. With current Portuguese No 1, Nuno Borges, also in the draw, he is sure to leave Portuguese tennis in good hands.
&ldquo;We still don't know who will win on April 7th, but we already know that it will be a historic edition with a farewell to The Conqueror who took Portuguese tennis to 'seas never sailed before',&rdquo; said Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o. &ldquo;We will pay due tribute to Jo&atilde;o Sousa with the help of national fans.&rdquo;
&ldquo;In 2023 we almost always had a full house with several sessions sold out,&rdquo; the tournament director said. &ldquo;This year, we will once again respond to fans with a wide range of areas of interest for all those who come to the Estoril Tennis Club or those who follow the matches on the various available multimedia platforms&rdquo;, Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o added. &ldquo;We will have at least two Portuguese players in the main draw, and, for the first time, we will also have two players from the top 10 at the time of registration [last year&rsquo;s participation of Hubert Hurkacz was a late entry], as well as the return of a player as charismatic as Gael Monfils, and the guaranteed start of a Slam winner in Dominic Thiem.
&ldquo;But, regardless of the players, the Estoril Tennis Club will truly be The Land of Spectacle, the motto of this year&rsquo;s campaign&rdquo;.
The already-strong draw of the 18 direct entrants, four qualifiers, and three wild cards could be further enhanced by two possible special exempts (players who reach the semi-finals of the Miami Masters 1000 in the week before the tournament), and a possible late entry (highly ranked player who wishes to play at the last minute).
Along with all the preparations made by the organisation to accommodate the visit of more than 40 thousand spectators &mdash; such as technology-enhanced entertainment in the stands, the debut of digital advertisement boards at the Millennium Stadium, and greater tennis offerings in the public areas &mdash; sponsors will contribute to visitor entertainment in their own spaces and the common marketing area. Complementary programmes in the areas of art, music, gastronomy, and children&rsquo;s activities will, once again, add to the experience and ensure that the Millennium Estoril Open is about more than just tennis.
At the corporate level, the founding partners of the project in 2015 &mdash; Cascais City Council and Millennium bcp &mdash; will be helped in 2024 by an expanded suite of sponsors. &ldquo;Our family of sponsors is strengthened in this ninth edition with the addition of reputable companies that complement a set of sponsors of great international prestige&rdquo;, highlighted Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o.
For those who cannot make the trip, the Millennium Estoril Open guarantees over 2,900 hours of international broadcasting &mdash; complemented by extensive coverage on the tournament's various digital platforms (website, social networks) that will allow fans to experience all the events related to the tournament, both inside and outside the courts. Eurosport (along with its digital platform Eurosport Player), TennisTV, and TVI Player will provide a live broadcast of all matches on the Millennium Stadium with the singles final also shown live on CNN Portugal.
The broadcasts will be enriched by statistical information provided by the Foxtenn electronic system, which will be in place to support the umpire teams.
With several sessions already sold out, the ninth edition of the Millennium Estoril Open promises to be an unmissable event in the landscape of Portuguese sport, as well as one of the most entertaining ATP tournaments in the 2024 calendar.
&nbsp;
LIST OF COMPETITORS
Direct entry
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Hubert Hurkacz (Poland, 27 years old), world No 8
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Casper Ruud (Norway, 25 years old), world No 9
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain, 24 years old), world No 23
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Lorenzo Musetti (Italy, 22 years old) world No 26
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Arthur Fils (France, 19 years old), world No 43
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia, 24 years old), world No 47
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dominik Koepfer (Germany, 29 years old), world No 49
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Daniel Altmaier (Germany, 25 years old), world No 53
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gael Monfils (France, 37 years old), world No 54
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nuno Borges (Portugal, 27 years old), world No 60
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marton Fucsovics (Hungary, 32 years old), world No 74
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Arthur Cazaux (France, 21 years old), world No 77
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pedro Cachin (Argentina, 28 years old), world No 79
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands, 28 years old), world No 82
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Cristian Garin (Chile, 27 years old), world No 87
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Pedro Martinez (Spain, 26 years old), world No 89
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Federico Coria (Argentina, 31 years old), world No 90
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Dominic Thiem (Austria, 30 years old), world No 91
&nbsp;
Wild Cards
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jo&atilde;o Sousa (Portugal, 34 years old), world No 275
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; WC to be announced
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; WC to be announced
&nbsp;
Alternates
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Maximilian Marterer (Germany, 28 years old), world No 95
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Jurij Rodionov (Austria, 24 years old), world No 96
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain, 35 years old), world No 98
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Constant Lestienne (France, 31 years old), world No 100
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Nagal Sumit (India, 26 years old), world No 101
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Alberto Ramos-Vinolas (Spain, 36 years old), world No 102
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Quentin Halys (France, 27 years old), world No 104
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Corentin Moutet (France, 24 years old), world No 105
&nbsp;
NOTE: Rankings as of March 4th, registration deadline. The main draw will take place on March 30th, at 3 pm.

MILLENNIUM BCP RENOVA PATROCÍNIO POR MAIS TRÊS ANOS

MAIOR TORNEIO DE TÉNIS PORTUGUÊS ANUNCIA DATA PARA 2025

MILLENNIUM BCP RENOVA PATROCÍNIO POR MAIS TRÊS ANOS

MAIOR TORNEIO DE TÉNIS PORTUGUÊS ANUNCIA DATA PARA 2025

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