Tournament favourites Joran Vliegen and Ariel Behar clinched the 2025 Millennium Estoril Open doubles title with a composed 7-5, 6-3 victory over Francisco Cabral and Lucas Miedler in Sunday&rsquo;s final. It marks Vliegen&rsquo;s second doubles triumph at the Estoril event, following his 2023 title alongside fellow Belgian Sander Gill&eacute;. This time, paired with Uruguay&rsquo;s Behar, the top seeds navigated challenging conditions and a spirited Portuguese-Austrian duo to secure the championship in straight sets. The match marked the first final &ndash; and first trophy &ndash; for the pair.&nbsp; &ldquo;We've been playing good tennis for a while. It's just we've never played [together] before until March of this year,&rdquo; Behar said. &ldquo;So you need a little bit of rhythm to know what the other person is doing. And the only way to do that is by playing matches together.&rdquo; The match was played under gusty winds that made the ball difficult to control. Despite the blustery conditions, both teams produced moments of elegant coordination, covering each other fluidly and moving in near-perfect sync &ndash; a performance that at times resembled a choreographed routine. At 1-0 in the first set, Behar and Vliegen generated two break points but couldn&rsquo;t capitalise. Cabral and Miedler responded in kind in the next game, but the deciding point again went the way of the serving pair. From there, strong serving and disciplined net play kept the first set finely balanced. Though the sun occasionally peeked through after a night of rain, heavy clouds continued to drift across the sky, casting fleeting shadows over the court. The breakthrough came at 6-5, with Behar and Vliegen pressuring the Cabral serve. A reflex pickup off a smash gave them 30-0, followed by a tense net exchange that took the score to 40-0. Cabral and Miedler clawed back one point, but the top seeds held their nerve to take the opening set. Behar and Vliegen carried that momentum into the second. With Cabral serving at 2-3, the duo&rsquo;s sharp net-play earned them a triple break point. Cabral felt the pressure, and blasted a forehand long &ndash; handing the top seeds the crucial break. From there, the Belgian and Uruguayan duo never looked back. Despite flashes of resistance from Cabral and Miedler, Vliegen and Behar maintained control, serving out the match and sealing the title with composure. &ldquo;I just just love being here,&rdquo; Vliegen added. &ldquo;It's a great tournament. It's well organised. Everything just feels good and I guess I like playing here. I like the vibes, and then it's been a couple of times that we finished here very well. I'm really happy with that, and I will keep coming back for sure.&rdquo;

VLIEGEN AND BEHAR CROWNED DOUBLES CHAMPIONS IN ESTORIL

Alex Michelsen capped a breakthrough week in Portugal by becoming the youngest champion in Millennium Estoril Open history, defeating Italian qualifier Andrea Pellegrino 6-4, 6-4 on a windy but sunlit Sunday afternoon.
&ldquo;It's cool to be the youngest winner,&rdquo; Michelsen reflected with a smile during the press match conference. &ldquo;I'm not gonna be young forever, so I'll enjoy it while I can.&rdquo;
The victory may soften Michelsen&rsquo;s well-documented aversion to clay, marking a potential turning point in his relationship with the surface.
Showcasing controlled aggression and mature shot selection, Michelsen overcame both the swirling Atlantic wind and a tenacious opponent to lift the biggest title of his young career.
&ldquo;In my first round [second round match against Giovanni Fonio], I saved a set point. And, I feel like from that point on, I started playing super well,&rdquo; Michelsen added.
The Estoril final began under clear skies, a welcome change after a day of fickle weather. Yet the strong breeze remained, demanding constant adjustments from both players, who had only wrapped up their semifinals late the night before.
Pellegrino, riding a dream run as a qualifier, opened proceedings with a confident service hold and then pressed for an early lead, carving out three break points in Michelsen&rsquo;s first service game. But the American held firm, saving all three before striking the first major blow of the match &ndash; a break to go 2&ndash;1 ahead, sealed by a clean winner off a short return.
Pellegrino responded immediately, breaking back to level, but his inconsistency on serve resurfaced in the very next game. At 15&ndash;40, he netted a forehand under pressure, gifting Michelsen the lead once more &ndash; one the young American would not relinquish.
Commanding from the baseline, Michelsen dictated the tempo with heavy forehands and impressive court coverage, drawing errors from Pellegrino and capitalising on short balls with efficiency. He closed out the opening set 6-4, converting his second set point with a booming serve.
&ldquo;I think the number one thing [about my mindset this week] was that I was just trying to do the right things every single point,&rdquo; Michelsen said. &ldquo;I didn't always do the right things &hellip; [but] I was happy to go down playing that way, and I think that's what freed me up this week.&rdquo;
The wind eased slightly in the second set, turning into a light breeze with occasional strong gusts. At 2-2, a slice of fortune helped Michelsen earn another break &ndash; a desperate volley bounced off his frame and barely cleared the net. The Italian&rsquo;s nerves showed soon after, as a double fault and a loose rally handed Michelsen the break.
However, the 20-year-old briefly lost focus. Loose errors and a misjudged approach opened the door for Pellegrino to break back, and the qualifier took full advantage, unleashing a series of pinpoint winners to level the set once again.
But just as momentum appeared to shift, Pellegrino stumbled on serve. Michelsen broke once more, and this time there would be no slip. Serving for the title at 5-4, the American held his nerve and served out the match, sealing the biggest win of his career in just under 75 minutes.
&ldquo;I was happy with the way I was playing. That was kind of my mindset. It turned out pretty good, so I think I'm gonna keep doing that,&rdquo; Michelsen summed up.

MICHELSEN MAKES HISTORY IN ESTORIL

O jovem Alex Michelsen, 38.&ordm; da tabela ATP aos 20 anos, conquistou este domingo a d&eacute;cima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open ao bater o qualifier Andrea Pellegrino por 6-4 e 6-4 em 74 minutos.
O tenista californiano, finalista de tr&ecirc;s torneios do ATP Tour, levantou o maior t&iacute;tulo da carreira e o primeiro t&iacute;tulo, a todos os n&iacute;veis, em terra batida e para isso nem cedeu qualquer set. O trof&eacute;u vai, tamb&eacute;m, fazer com que ascenda ao posto 32 do ranking e iguale o melhor que atingiu este ano em mar&ccedil;o.
A marcha do marcador foi bastante semelhante em ambos os parciais. Michelsen concretizou sempre o break ao quinto jogo, consentiu a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o do italiano e partiu para a dianteira ao s&eacute;timo jogo. E, como em todo o torneio, voltou a mostrar imensas armas atacantes, mesmo no p&oacute; de tijolo, e um n&iacute;vel de servi&ccedil;o inating&iacute;vel para os seus opositores &ndash; apenas perdeu o servi&ccedil;o quatro vezes em quatro triunfos.
Alex Michelsen torna-se no primeiro jogador dos Estados Unidos da Am&eacute;rica a vencer no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril (Frances Tiafoe perdeu as finais de 2018 e 2022) e supera Stefanos Tsitsipas em 14 dias para se tornar no mais novo campe&atilde;o da hist&oacute;ria da dezena de edi&ccedil;&otilde;es do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal.

Alex Michelsen celebra história pessoal e conquista Millennium Estoril Open 

Numa final entre as duas principais equipas, o uruguaio Ariel Behar e o belga Joran Vliegen confirmaram o estatuto de primeiros cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie e bateram o portugu&ecirc;s Francisco Cabral e o austr&iacute;aco Lucas Miedlerpor 7-5 e 6-3 para conquistarem o t&iacute;tulo no Millennium Estoril Open.
Um break em cada parcial, o primeiro no derradeiro jogo do primeiro set e o segundo na inf&acirc;ncia do segundo, deitou tudo a perder para as aspira&ccedil;&otilde;es nacionais. A final acabou a ser resolvida ao cabo de 75 minutos, numa decis&atilde;o atrasada pouco mais de uma hora devido &agrave; chuva que caiu na parte da manh&atilde; de domingo.
Para Francisco Cabral, campe&atilde;o do torneio em 2022 ao lado de Nuno Borges, foi o fim do sonho de conquistar pela segunda vez o maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, algo feito por Vliegen, vencedor igualmente em 2023. O tenista de 31 anos torna-se, assim, somente no segundo bicampe&atilde; da prova depois de Scott Lipsky nas duas primeiras edi&ccedil;&otilde;es.
Os novos campe&otilde;es amealharam o primeiro &ecirc;xito em conjunto (iniciaram a parceria em Marraquexe e este foi o terceiro evento como equipa), mas t&ecirc;m um curr&iacute;culo de excel&ecirc;ncia: Behar (44.&ordm; da variante, ex-34.&ordm;) ostenta tr&ecirc;s trof&eacute;us no circuito principal em 11 finais, uma delas o Masters 1000 de Madrid em 2024; Vliegen (57.&ordm;, top 20 h&aacute; dois anos) possui oito t&iacute;tulos ATP em 13 decis&otilde;es e muitas delas relevantes: triunfou no Masters 1000 de Monte-Carlo em 2024, foi finalista em Roland-Garros no ano anterior.
Cabral, o melhor tenista luso na variante (54.&ordm;), vai, ainda assim, ficar perto da melhor cota&ccedil;&atilde;o da carreira. Em 2022, ano do t&iacute;tulo no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e de outro ATP, em Gstaad, alcan&ccedil;ou o 45.&ordm; posto da hierarquia, agora ser&aacute; 51.&ordm; esta segunda-feira. &nbsp;

Ariel Behar e Joran Vliegen confirmam favoritismo e vencem Millennium Estoril Open

Italian qualifier Andrea Pellegrino will take on American Alex Michelsen in Sunday&rsquo;s final of the 2025 Millennium Estoril Open, after both players came through their semi final clashes in straight sets on a cold and rain-delayed Saturday night.
Pellegrino showed grit and composure to defeat Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 6-4, handling nearly eight hours of rain delay and biting Atlantic winds with resilience. Conditions were far from ideal by the time the match finally got underway, but a dedicated Portuguese crowd braved the late hour to create a lively atmosphere.
&ldquo;The conditions were really tough,&rdquo; Pellegrino after the win. &ldquo;The court was a bit slippery &hellip; but I tried to do my best, and I'm really happy.&rdquo;
Both players started slowly, understandably affected by the long delay and cold temperatures. Pellegrino &ndash; notably still wearing his trademark sleeveless shirt despite the chill &ndash; looked slightly off rhythm early on, with slower movement and tentative footwork.
But at 2-2 in the opening set, the match found its rhythm. Serves gained pace, groundstrokes sharpened, and rallies extended. Pellegrino struck first, breaking for 4-3 with a blistering crosscourt forehand.
The break appeared to spark Vukic into action, prompting a sharp rise in his level. But Pellegrino held firm, staying disciplined on defence and absorbing the increased pace with composed efficiency. What followed was a compelling stretch of high-quality tennis, with neither player yielding an inch. Still, it was Pellegrino who maintained his poise, closing out the first set with minimal fuss.
&ldquo;I try to be focused on myself, [my] service game, and doing the best on the returns [of serve],&rdquo; Pellegrino added. &ldquo;That was the key.&rdquo;
The Italian carried that momentum into the second set, breaking early to take control. Though Vukic managed to break back when Pellegrino served at 4-3, the qualifier responded immediately with another break of his own. From there, he served out the match cleanly to seal a well-earned victory.
&ldquo;I think it's, right now, one of the best tournaments of my career,&rdquo; Pellegrino said with a smile. &ldquo;I came here with no expectations, and now here I am in the final. I will try to do my best to get a title tomorrow.&rdquo;
In the other semifinal, Alex Michelsen delivered a composed performance to beat Miomir Kecmanović 6-4, 6-2 and secure his spot in the final.
Unlike Pellegrino, who braved the cold in a sleeveless shirt, Kecmanović opted for a long-sleeve base layer beneath his kit &ndash; an early sign of his discomfort with the chilly evening conditions.
The match began with a series of punishing baseline exchanges, as both players looked to establish dominance through heavy hitting. Kecmanović struggled with his serve &ndash; flashing brilliance on some points with clean one-two punches, but erratic on others, sending routine shots into the net or sailing beyond the baseline.
Michelsen, by contrast, was composed and disciplined. His forehand &ndash; sharp and reliable &ndash; was beginning to win him easy points. He used his backhand effectively in defence, waiting for his moment before unleashing forehand winners with devastating angles, punishing Kecmanović&rsquo;s errors with clinical precision.
&ldquo;I was definitely trying to play a little more aggressively, and playing a little bit more to my strengths and his weaknesses,&rdquo; Michelsen said after the match. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m super happy with the way I competed tonight.&rdquo;
At 2-2, Michelsen earned the first break when Kecmanović misfired on a forehand. The American served smartly, mixing his placement with wide- and T serves to keep his opponent guessing.
When receiving to stay in the set, Kecmanović was rattled by a couple of fortunate shots from Michelsen &ndash; a net cord here, a painted line there. Each time, the Serb glanced toward his coach with visible frustration.
Michelsen closed out the opening set confidently and broke again to start the second. For a stretch, it looked as if he would cruise to the finish, but a brief stumble at 3-2 gave Kecmanović a glimmer of hope. Down 15-40, Michelsen was forced to dig deep, saving three break points with clutch serving &ndash; his biggest test of the match.
From there, he regained control, landing powerful returns and dragging Kecmanović around the court. Another break followed, and Michelsen served out the match 6-2 to advance to the grand final.
&ldquo;I've been playing really strong offensive tennis this week, and I'm gonna continue to do that tomorrow against an opponent who's won a lot of matches,&rdquo; Michelsen added with his eyes on tomorrow&rsquo;s clash.

QUALIFIER PELLEGRINO TO FACE MICHELSEN IN THE GRAND FINAL

Uma coisa &eacute; certa: o d&eacute;cimo vencedor diferente no Millennium Estoril Open vai ter como recompensa o maior trof&eacute;u individual do palmar&eacute;s, num dia que come&ccedil;a em tons portugueses com a segunda final de pares de Francisco Cabral no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal.
Tr&ecirc;s anos depois, o internacional portugu&ecirc;s e atleta ol&iacute;mpico vai &agrave; procura de tornar-se no primeiro jogador luso a triunfar duas vezes no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril. Antes ganhou ao lado de Nuno Borges; agora ao lado do austr&iacute;aco Lucas Miedler, Francisco Cabral tem oportunidade de arrecadar um dos maiores &ecirc;xitos de uma carreira j&aacute; marcada por dois trof&eacute;us ATP em cinco decis&otilde;es disputadas.
A conclus&atilde;o da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o vir&aacute; em grande para o futuro rei, que vai inscrever o nome do seu pa&iacute;s na galeria da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o.
Um dia ap&oacute;s uma jornada crepuscular encerrada j&aacute; para l&aacute; da meia-noite devido aos atrasos provocados pela chuva, a recompensa no sapato de Andrea Pellegrino ou Alex Michelsen vir&aacute; em forma de maior t&iacute;tulo dos respetivos curr&iacute;culos.
No caso de Alex Michelsen n&atilde;o &eacute; por falta de tentativas. Segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie (38.&ordm; ATP), o jovem de 20 anos &eacute; visto como uma das maiores promessas do circuito e j&aacute; disputou tr&ecirc;s finais no circuito principal. Nenhuma a qualquer n&iacute;vel, nem uma meia-final sequer, tinha surgido no p&oacute; de tijolo, pelo que a semana por si s&oacute; j&aacute; &eacute; especial.
Andrea Pellegrino, de 28 anos, nunca tinha vivido um grande torneio com tanto sucesso &mdash; at&eacute; porque chega ao derradeiro encontro vindo do qualifying e registando a melhor vit&oacute;ria da carreira (Felix Auger-Aliassime) pelo caminho. &Eacute; verdade que j&aacute; jogou antes nove finais no Challenger Tour (vencendo tr&ecirc;s), mas a de hoje &eacute; de longe a maior e o Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; daqueles eventos que mudam carreiras.
Aconte&ccedil;a o que acontecer, h&aacute; motivos para celebrar por todos os intervenientes. Resta desfrutar do dia D e esperar por julho de 2026.

Depois do serão as finais

Est&aacute; definida a grande final da especial d&eacute;cima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open. O americano Alex Michelsen (38.&ordm; ATP) e o italiano Andrea Pellegrino (237.&ordm;) v&atilde;o protagonizar o derradeiro encontro da prova nunca antes das 15 horas deste domingo.
Ser&aacute; um primeiro confronto entre ambos e para a&iacute; chegarem precisaram n&atilde;o s&oacute; de derrotarem um vasto lote de advers&aacute;rios como o tempo das meias-finais. A chuva atrasou todos os encontros mais de seis horas e foi j&aacute; depois das 21 horas que as semifinais se disputaram.
A primeira, entre Andrea Pellegrino e o australiano Aleksandar Vukic (83.&ordm;, antigo top 50, finalista de uma prova ATP e habituado a sucesso em Portugal) chegou a come&ccedil;ar &agrave; hora prevista, s&oacute; que foi interrompida no terceiro jogo ao cabo de pouco mais de 10 minutos.
Pellegrino lidou melhor com as condi&ccedil;&otilde;es pesadas e com toda a situa&ccedil;&atilde;o e bateu mais um favorito, neste caso com os parciais de 6-4 e 6-4. Somente viu a situa&ccedil;&atilde;o complicar-se na reta final do duelo, mas imp&ocirc;s-se fisicamente e mentalmente (anulou quatro de cinco break points e concretizou os tr&ecirc;s ao dispor) para somar o sexto triunfo da semana.
O italiano de 28 anos tornou-se no primeiro qualifier a alcan&ccedil;ar a final do Millennium Estoril Open e f&ecirc;-lo com o percurso mais impressionante da semana: n&atilde;o s&oacute; &eacute; proveniente da fase pr&eacute;via, como no quadro maior superou Dusan Lajovic (ex-top 25), F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime (primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e 19.&ordm; do ranking, naquela que foi a maior vit&oacute;ria da carreira), o antigo top 20 (57.&ordm; atual) Nicolas Jarry e o tamb&eacute;m top 100 Vukic. O torneio de uma carreira.
Pouco depois, Alex Michelsen ultrapassou o s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (47.&ordm;), finalista deste evento em 2023, por 6-4 e 6-2 em apenas 75 minutos, ao realizar a exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o mais convincente e autorit&aacute;ria da semana. O jovem de 20 anos nem sequer perdeu o servi&ccedil;o - salvou quatro break points &ndash; e mostrou toda a superioridade do in&iacute;cio ao fim do embate.
Apurado para a primeira final da carreira em terra batida, o segundo pr&eacute;-designado, tr&ecirc;s vezes finalista no circuito principal, tem aqui, igualmente, um torneio para recordar para a semana &ndash; atingiu tamb&eacute;m a semifinal inaugural na superf&iacute;cie. E chega ao derradeiro dia sem perder qualquer parcial nos tr&ecirc;s &ecirc;xitos logrados.
De um lado o surpreendente qualifier na maior final da carreira, do outro uma das maiores promessas da atualidade na primeira final no p&oacute; de tijolo. A final do Millennium Estoril Open promete e vai coroar um d&eacute;cimo campe&atilde;o diferente na prova e um primeiro rei dos respetivos pa&iacute;ses para a galeria do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal.

Andrea Pellegrino desafia favorito Alex Michelsen na final do Millennium Estoril Open

Alex Michelsen became the final player to complete Saturday&rsquo;s semi-final lineup, defeating Luca Nardi 6-3, 6-4 in straight sets. &ldquo;That was probably [one of the] top two clay matches I've played in my life,&rdquo; said an elated American after the win. &ldquo;I beat Fritz last year, but this was probably the second-best one I played on clay.&nbsp; &ldquo;I'm super happy with the way I served, and [I played] quite good attacking tennis even on clay.&rdquo; Michelsen&rsquo;s trademark backhand down the line proved a key weapon, consistently putting Nardi on the defensive. Mixing controlled power with well-timed accelerations, the American pulled the trigger when it mattered, and dictated the rallies, keeping Nardi pinned behind the baseline. The Italian remained composed, rarely showing emotion despite frequently being left scrambling. He had moments of brilliance &ndash; firing deep, line-grazing returns and crafting sharp angles that pulled Michelsen out wide &ndash; before striking powerful winners. But those flashes weren&rsquo;t enough to shift the momentum. &ldquo;Luca's backhand was very, very good,&rdquo; Michelsen said. &ldquo;His first serve is very good, and his backhand was super good. So those are [for me] the two biggest difficulties [in the match].&rdquo; With the win, Michelsen advances to face Miomir Kecmanović in the semi-finals. &ldquo;I'm gonna go in [tomorrow&rsquo;s match] with a lot more confidence,&rdquo; Michelsen added. &ldquo;Every win is meaningful on the surface for me, so I'm feeling really good right now. Hopefully, I can continue that tomorrow.&rdquo; Miomir Kecmanović booked his place in tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-finals with a 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Nuno Borges. Borges, the Portuguese number one, thrilled the home crowd by coming out on top of a tight second-set tiebreak but couldn&rsquo;t carry the momentum into a decisive third. &ldquo;I played some good tennis, I think, throughout the whole match,&rdquo; Kecmanović said afterwards. &ldquo;It was just him raising his level at moments when it mattered. I'm just happy that I was able to come off with a win.&rdquo; Kecmanović dominated early, breaking twice in quick succession and cruising to a 6-0 opening set. Borges found his rhythm late in the set, battling through a 15-point game and saving two match points &ndash; but ultimately surrendered a third straight break. In the second set, the players traded breaks before Borges, buoyed by the home crowd, saved two match points and pushed the set to a tiebreak. He edged the tense decider to the delight of the Portuguese fans. &ldquo;It definitely wasn't easy,&rdquo; Kecmanović admitted. &ldquo;But, somehow, I managed to stay cool when it mattered. I was the better player when it mattered today.&rdquo; Borges pushed at the start of the third set &ndash; and had opportunities &ndash; but Kecmanović held firm. &ldquo;I think what was most important was using the momentum I had early in the third set,&rdquo; Borges said after the defeat. &ldquo;[I had] chances to break and really didn't use them well. I saw he wasn't moving great, and then, all of a sudden, I gave him a couple easy service games, and he was running again, and he&rsquo;s back into the match.&rdquo; Kecmanović, the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open finalist, will now face Alex Michelsen in Saturday&rsquo;s semi-final. &ldquo;It's my third time here,&rdquo; Kecmanović said. &ldquo;So, I'm happy that I'm back and hopefully, I can go all the way this time.&rdquo; In the doubles draw, on Court Cascais, fourth seeds Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl came out on top of a tough encounter against Nicolas Barrientos and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli, winning 6-1, 6-7 (6), 10-2.&nbsp;
The Czech duo now advance to the semi-finals, where they will face Francisco Cabral and Lucas Miedler, who earlier today edged past Karol Drzewiecki and Piotr Matuszewski in another close contest, 6-1, 3-6, 10-4.&nbsp;

MICHELSEN JOINS FINAL FOUR IN ESTORIL

Tr&ecirc;s anos depois,&nbsp;Francisco Cabral voltou a inscrever o nome na final de pares do Millennium Estoril Open, desta vez ao lado de&nbsp;Lucas Miedler.
Segundos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie, o portugu&ecirc;s e o austr&iacute;aco (ambos com 28 anos e respetivamente 54.&ordm; e 56.&ordm; classificados no ranking de pares) sorriram pelo segundo dia consecutivo num match tie-break ao passarem pelos checos Petr Nouza (72.&ordm;) e Patrik Rikl (69.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-3, 4-6 e 10-5.
O Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; o quarto torneio em que Cabral e Miedler atuam lado a lado e o terceiro em que atingem a final, estando na calha a conquista do segundo t&iacute;tulo da dupla &mdash; foram campe&otilde;es do Challenger 100 de Madrid e finalistas do Challenger 125 de Oeiras.
Campe&atilde;o no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril com Nuno Borges e ainda no ATP 250 de Gstaad ao lado de Tomislav Brkic em 2022, Francisco Cabral persegue o terceiro t&iacute;tulo mais importante da carreira.
Ariel Behar (44.&ordm;) e Joran Vliegen (57.&ordm;) s&atilde;o os primeiros cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie e separam-no desse objetivo. Tal como ele, o belga tamb&eacute;m j&aacute; conta com um t&iacute;tulo do Millennium Estoril Open no palmar&eacute;s: foi em 2023, com direito a uma vit&oacute;ria sobre Borges e Cabral nas meias-finais.

Francisco Cabral regressa à final de pares

Aos 20 anos, Alex Michelsen (38.&ordm; ATP) celebrou esta sexta-feira um novo marco na ainda jovem carreira ao atingir, no Millennium Estoril Open, a primeira meia-final da carreira em terra batida.
No duelo que encerrou a jornada de quartos de final, o n&uacute;mero sete dos Estados Unidos da Am&eacute;rica bateu o italiano Luca Nardi (100.&ordm;) por 6-3 e 6-4 em 82 minutos.
Com uma exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o imaculada, o tr&ecirc;s vezes finalista de provas ATP (a n&iacute;vel Challenger tem dois trof&eacute;us em quatro decis&otilde;es) mostrou as principais credenciais, o servi&ccedil;o e a esquerda, e apareceu igualmente a bater bem a direita. Mesmo perante um advers&aacute;rio mais confort&aacute;vel no p&oacute; de tijolo, Michelsen dominou o embate do in&iacute;cio ao fim ao ecplanar todo o card&aacute;pio de armas ofensivas do seu arsenal.
Al&eacute;m da primeira semifinal na superf&iacute;cie, Alex Michelsen garantiu a presen&ccedil;a na segunda meia-final da temporada de 2025 e o opositor ser&aacute; exatamente o mesmo do desaire de Delray Beach, em fevereiro: o s&eacute;rvio Miormir Kecmanovic. O atual 47.&ordm; do ranking, finalista no Estoril em 2023, prevaleceu nesse encontro com os parciais de 7-6(3) e 6-3.
Alex Michelsen querer&aacute; sair do Estoril com o maior trof&eacute;u do palmar&eacute;s.

Alex Michelsen atinge primeira meia-final em terra batida no Millennium Estoril Open

Qualifier Andrea Pellegrino followed up his impressive performance yesterday with another statement win, defeating Nicol&aacute;s Jarry 7-6 (0), 5-7, 6-1.
Pellegrino looked poised to close out the match in straight sets, but Jarry raised his level to force a decider.
&ldquo;He was hitting so hard, the serve was unreal,&rdquo; Pellegrino said afterwards. &ldquo;He was hitting 220 [km/h] every first serve, and also from the baseline &hellip; so hard, so flat. It was not easy [for me to deal with] because, also with the wind, to play a guy who's hitting bombs is never easy. But I was playing every point [with] full intensity, and that was the key.&rdquo;
Pellegrino saved a set point in the opener and delivered a flawless tiebreak, taking it 7-0. He then surged to a 3-0 lead in the second set and even served for the match, but Jarry found a second wind, breaking back and taking the set.
Jarry&rsquo;s powerful baseline game gave him a foothold just when he needed it. Pellegrino, striking clean and disciplined shots off both wings, faltered slightly on serve and allowed the Chilean back into the match. The Chilean applied pressure, firing powerful groundstrokes at Pellegrino and tormenting the Italian with lightning-fast serves.
&ldquo;I was a bit nervous when I had to close the match,&rdquo; Pellegrino said. &ldquo;He played a really good game. It's very tough. I went on the bench, and I said [to myself], &lsquo;Well, I cannot do nothing. Now I have to start again&rsquo;.&rdquo;
And he did. Pellegrino broke Jarry three times in the deciding set, conceding just one break himself. Despite Jarry mounting a brief challenge in the mid-part of the match, his game remained erratic and riddled with unforced errors. Pellegrino maintained his composure to close out the match with a commanding 6-1 finish.
&ldquo;I was feeling very good physically and mentally,&rdquo; Pellegrino added. &rdquo;So I tried to do my best from the first point of the third set, and that's how I did it.&rdquo;
He will next face Aleksandar Vukic, who made short work of Bernabe Zapata Miralles, winning 6-1, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.
&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m ready to do business,&rdquo; Pellegrino quipped about his upcoming semi-final.
Vukic played a lights-out match against an ailing opponent, likely still feeling the effects of a gruelling late-night battle against Jesper de Jong. Zapata Miralles, who won that match, didn&rsquo;t finish until well after 10 pm and looked physically off the pace.
&ldquo;I kinda thought that would help me,&rdquo; Vukic said afterwards. &ldquo;And it probably did. It wasn't easy for Bernabe to come back from last night. I was watching that while I was in my bed, so I definitely had an advantage there.&rdquo;
The Australian will welcome the easy win. Coming into the tournament, he was on a 10-match losing streak.
&ldquo;I was losing a lot. A lot of close matches,&rdquo; Vukic noted. &ldquo;But it was a bit of a mental thing. Bit of a confidence factor, not really doubting my game. My game was kinda always there.
&ldquo;Winning that first match here [against Nicolas Moreno De Alboran in round one] definitely helps. I played a very good third set. It gave me a lot of confidence.&rdquo;
Vukic already has his eyes set on tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-final against Andrea Pellegrino. &ldquo;It's gonna be a tough match, and I'm looking forward to it,&rdquo; he said.
In the doubles action, over on Court Cascais, the German duo Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner needed just 55 minutes to secure their spot in the semi-finals, cruising past Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Denis Yevseyev and Beibit Zhukayev 6-2, 6-1.
They will next face the tournament&rsquo;s top seeds, Ariel Behar and Joran Vliegen, who similarly wasted no time in dispatching alternates Ivan Gakhov and Alex Marti Pujolras 6-1, 6-3 in just under an hour.

PELLEGRINO SETS UP VUKIC SHOWDOWN

Um ano depois, Nuno Borges voltou a ser travado nos quartos de final e deixou o quadro de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open sem representantes portugueses.
O melhor tenista portugu&ecirc;s da atualidade (41.&ordm; ATP) cedeu pelos parciais de 6-0, 6-7(5) e 6-4 para o s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (47.&ordm;) num duelo em que ainda salvou tr&ecirc;s&nbsp;match points, mas no qual pagou caro por andar sempre atr&aacute;s do marcador.
Finalista em 2023, Kecmanovic recuperou melhor dos tr&ecirc;s sets jogados no dia anterior &mdash; apesar da igualdade em parciais, esteve no campo menos 1h30 do que o portugu&ecirc;s. Num palco de boas mem&oacute;rias, o s&eacute;rvio venceu os primeiros sete jogos e ainda chegou a liderar por 5-2 na segunda partida, mas Borges n&atilde;o deitou a toalha ao ch&atilde;o e contou com o apoio do p&uacute;blico para construir a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o.
Um dia ap&oacute;s vencer o embate mais longo da hist&oacute;ria do torneio, em 3h16, o maiato n&atilde;o teve a mesma frescura e falhou em momentos cruciais, nomeadamente ao desperdi&ccedil;ar dois volleys e cometer uma dupla falta que lhe custaram a derradeira quebra de servi&ccedil;o do embate, minutos ap&oacute;s ter recuperado do primeiro break de atraso no parcial decisivo.&nbsp;
Detentor de dois t&iacute;tulos ATP em cinco finais, o mais recente em Delray Beach j&aacute; esta temporada, Miomir Kecmanovic ficar&aacute; a aguardar pelo derradeiro embate da sess&atilde;o noturna para conhecer o advers&aacute;rio que o separa de uma segunda final no Estoril. No s&aacute;bado, o s&eacute;rvio de 25 anos ter&aacute; pela frente ou o italiano Luca Nardi (100.&ordm;), quatro anos mais novo, ou o norte-americano Alex Michelsen (38.&ordm;), com o 20.&ordm; anivers&aacute;rio rec&eacute;m-celebrado.

Nuno Borges volta a cair nos quartos de final

Francisco Cabral&nbsp;e Lucas Miedler&nbsp;celebraram lado a lado pelo segundo dia consecutivo e apuraram-se para as meias-finais de pares do Millennium Estoril Open, onde procuram o segundo t&iacute;tulo em conjunto.
Segundos candidatos ao t&iacute;tulo, o portugu&ecirc;s e o austr&iacute;aco (respetivamente 54.&ordm; e 56.&ordm; classificados no ranking de pares) venceram os polacos Karol&nbsp;Drzewiecki&nbsp;e&nbsp;Piotr Matuszewski por 6-1, 3-6 e 10-4.
A vit&oacute;ria desta sexta-feira permitiu a Cabral e Miedler vingarem a derrota de h&aacute; duas semanas na final do Oeiras Open 125, que poderia ter dado ao especialista portugu&ecirc;s o terceiro t&iacute;tulo mais importante da carreira.
Agora, o portuense de 28 anos persegue esse trof&eacute;u no Millennium Estoril Open, onde conhece a sensa&ccedil;&atilde;o de erguer a ta&ccedil;a &mdash; venceu a edi&ccedil;&atilde;o de 2022 com Nuno Borges.
Nas meias-finais de s&aacute;bado, jogadas j&aacute; no Est&aacute;dio Millennium, Francisco Cabral e Lucas Miedler v&atilde;o encontrar os checos Petr Nouza (72.&ordm;) e Patrik Rikl (69.&ordm;).
O outro encontro colocar&aacute; frente a frente as outras duplas cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie: Ariel Behar e Joran Vliegen s&atilde;o os primeiros, Jakob Schnaitter e Mark Wallner os terceiros.

Francisco Cabral regressa às meias-finais de pares

Est&atilde;o definidos os protagonistas da primeira meia-final da d&eacute;cima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open: o australiano Aleksandar Vukic e o italiano Andrea Pellegrino v&atilde;o medir for&ccedil;as pela primeira vez e logo com um bilhete em jogo para a final.
Vukic (83.&ordm; do ranking ATP) aterrou em Lisboa numa s&eacute;rie de 10 derrotas consecutivas e com o &uacute;ltimo triunfo a datar de 31 de janeiro. As &uacute;ltimas oito num terceiro set. S&oacute; que depois de vencer Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, precisamente num parcial decisivo, o tenista de 29 anos garantiu os primeiros quartos de final ao superar o americano Marcos Giron, quarto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e top 50, e agora a primeira semifinal da temporada ao derrotar o lucky loser espanhol Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles.
Habituado a sucesso em solo nacional - em 2022 atingiu as meias-finais no Maia Open, no ano seguinte a final do Oeiras Open 125 -, o pupilo do portugu&ecirc;s Nuno Lencastre j&aacute; alcan&ccedil;ou uma final no ATP Tour (Atlanta 2023) e possui dois t&iacute;tulos Challenger em nove finais, a derradeira no Jamor. O jogador dos ant&iacute;podas procura no Estoril o maior t&iacute;tulo do palmar&eacute;s.
Esta sexta-feira, o duelo n&atilde;o teve qualquer hist&oacute;ria. Vukic venceu em 47 minutos (6-1 e 6-1) e igualou o &ecirc;xito mais r&aacute;pido da hist&oacute;ria do Millennium Estoril Open, ent&atilde;o em 2019 na vit&oacute;ria de Alejandro Davidovich Fokina contra Jeremy Chardy.
Aleksandar Vukic, antigo 48.&ordm; ATP, nem sequer enfrentou um break point (s&oacute; cedeu sete pontos no servi&ccedil;o) e n&atilde;o teve qualquer dificuldade para ultrapassar um Zapata Miralles visivelmente desgastado pelos quatro embates anteriores e por ter terminado tarde o compromisso da segunda eliminat&oacute;ria.
Antes disso, Andrea Pellegrino, oriundo da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o, j&aacute; tinha avan&ccedil;ado para o pen&uacute;ltimo dia da prova. O atual 237.&ordm; da tabela masculina, finalista no Lisboa Bel&eacute;m Open em 2021, somou o quinto triunfo da semana ao bater o chileno Nicolas Jarry (57.&ordm;, ex-16.&ordm;), s&eacute;timo pr&eacute;-designado, com os parciais de 7-6(0), 5-7 e 6-1 ao cabo de 2h27.
O transalpino sobressaiu num primeiro parcial no qual salvou um set point (no &uacute;nico ponto de break do set) e jogou um tie-break perfeito e de seguida precisou de esquecer o segundo set que escapou entre os dedos. Pellegrino chegou a liderar por 4-1 e 0-40 para praticamente sentenciar o encontro, mas Jarry usou uma das muitas vidas ao dispor (na v&eacute;spera salvou match point para superar Gast&atilde;o Elias) e amea&ccedil;ou a reviravolta.
No entanto, o ex-top20, vencedor de tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos ATP em sete finais, a maior h&aacute; um ano no Masters 1000 de Roma, disputou um parcial decisivo com imensos erros n&atilde;o for&ccedil;ados e nunca agarrou o forte servi&ccedil;o.
Andrea Pellegrino garantiu, deste modo, a maior meia-final da carreira e segunda de 2025.

Aleksandar Vukic e Andrea Pellegrino agendam confronto nas meias-finais do Millennium Estoril Open

Chegou como o mais cotado da d&eacute;cima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, mas o certo &eacute; que cedeu logo na estreia: F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime esbarrou no qualifier Andrea Pellegrino por 7-5 e 6-4.
O canadiano de 24 anos, 19.&ordm; da tabela ATP, sexto em 2022, liderou o primeiro parcial duas vezes com break de vantagem, a &uacute;ltima das quais por 4-3, s&oacute; que apareceu sem grande ritmo e a cometer imensos erros n&atilde;o for&ccedil;ados, em especial na pancada de direita. O vencedor sete t&iacute;tulos ATP, dois na presente temporada, despediu-se ao cabo de 1h54.
Para o italiano, este triunfo &eacute; o mais robusto da carreira, naquele que foi o primeiro desafio face a um tenista entre os 20 melhores do ranking. O Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; o terceiro evento de 2025 no qual atinge os quartos de final (1-1) e o sucesso desta quinta-feira foi o primeiro contra um top 100 desde setembro.
Nos quartos de final, Pellegrino vai enfrentar o chileno Nicolas Jarry, respons&aacute;vel pelas elimina&ccedil;&otilde;es de Henrique Rocha e Gast&atilde;o Elias. O ex-top 20 salvou um match point contra Elias para marcar presen&ccedil;a pela segunda vez este ano em quartos de final.
Alex Michelsen (38.&ordm;, segundo pr&eacute;-designado) &eacute; uma das maiores promessas do t&eacute;nis contempor&acirc;neo e no Estoril despachou de entrada o qualifier italiano Giovanni Fonio (372.&ordm;) por 6-4 e 7-6(3), salvando um set point no segundo parcial.
Este &eacute; o quarto torneio em que chega aos quartos de final nesta temporada (1-2) e agora vai ter outro transalpino na antepen&uacute;ltima do outro lado da rede. Luca Nardi (100.&ordm;) alcan&ccedil;ou pela terceira vez esta fase em 2025 ao somar dois triunfos em parciais diretos, neste caso contra o russo Alexey Vatutin (333.&ordm;, oriundo da fase pr&eacute;via) por 6-3 e 6-2.
O ramalhete da jornada de sexta-feira fica completo com o australiano Aleksandar Vukic (83.&ordm;, ex-48.&ordm;) e o lucky loser espanhol Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles (380.&ordm;, 37.&ordm; em 2023).
Vukic, orientado pelo portugu&ecirc;s Nuno Lencastre, superou o americano Marcos Giron, 45.&ordm; da hierarquia, quarto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e um dos favoritos ao t&iacute;tulo, atrav&eacute;s de esclarecedores 6-3 e 6-1 em 77 minutos.
Zapata Miralles derrotou o neerland&ecirc;s Jesper de Jong (93.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-4 e 7-6(1) no compromisso que encerrou a jornada.
Tanto Vukic como Zapata Miralles estreiam-se em quartos de final este ano.

Félix Auger-Aliassime não resiste ao encontro inaugural no Estoril

Francisco Cabral sorriu no duelo portugu&ecirc;s desta quinta-feira e apurou-se para os quartos de final de pares do Millennium Estoril Open.
Ao lado do austr&iacute;aco Lucas Miedler, o especialista portugu&ecirc;s levou a melhor sobre os irm&atilde;os Henrique Rocha e Francisco Rocha por 6-3 e 6-2.
Cabral e Miedler uniram esfor&ccedil;os recentemente e o Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; o quarto torneio que disputam lado a lado. Nas &uacute;ltimas semanas, o portugu&ecirc;s e o austr&iacute;aco sagraram-se campe&otilde;es de um Challenger 100 em Madrid e vice-campe&otilde;es de um Challenger 125 em Oeiras.
A dupla &eacute; a segunda maior candidata ao t&iacute;tulo e segura as esperan&ccedil;as nacionais, dado que na v&eacute;spera ca&iacute;ram Tiago Pereira/Gast&atilde;o Elias, Pedro Ara&uacute;jo/Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a e Salvador Monteiro/Gon&ccedil;alo Castro.
Na sexta-feira, Francisco Cabral e Lucas Miedler v&atilde;o reencontrar Karol Drzewiecki e Piotr Matuszewski, polacos que os venceram na final do Challenger do Jamor h&aacute; duas semanas.

Francisco Cabral nos quartos de final de pares

3h16 depois, Nuno Borges&nbsp;celebrou a vit&oacute;ria mais longa dos 10 anos de hist&oacute;ria do Millennium Estoril Open ao superar Marton Fucsovics com os parciais de 7-6(6), 6-7(4) e 6-4 para inscrever o nome nos quartos de final pelo segundo ano consecutivo.
Para o desfecho foi essencial os 13 break points salvos pelo n&uacute;mero um nacional e at&eacute; os dois set points salvos no primeiro parcial. Num encontro &eacute;pico, n&atilde;o s&oacute; pelo n&iacute;vel de jogo mas sobretudo pelo ambiente dos que encheram o Est&aacute;dio Millennium, o maiato de (41.&ordm; ATP) ganhou o bra&ccedil;o de ferro contra o h&uacute;ngaro Marton Fucsovics (130.&ordm;, antigo 31.&ordm;) ap&oacute;s mais de tr&ecirc;s horas de emnbate.
O encontro entre campe&otilde;es de torneios ATP (o portugu&ecirc;s venceu em Bastad na &eacute;poca passada, Fucsovics tem dois sucessos em quatro finais) caiu para o jogador da casa, campe&atilde;o da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o em 2022, em pares, e Borges agendou compromisso esta sexta-feira contra o s&eacute;rvio Miormir Kecmanovic (47.&ordm;), finalista no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril em 2023.
Kecmanovic imp&ocirc;s-se face ao qualifier cazaque Denis Yevseyev (258.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-1, 3-6 e 7-5.
Para Nuno Borges, os quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open ser&atilde;o os quartos da temporada (2-1), o mesmo para o s&eacute;rvio (2-1).

Nuno Borges nos quartos de final com vitória histórica

Qualifier Andrea Pellegrino sent shockwaves through the Est&aacute;dio Millennium on Wednesday, upsetting top seed F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, to claim the biggest win of his career.
Despite the Canadian&rsquo;s early exit, the packed crowd was treated to a high-intensity battle under the Estoril sun. Fans had flocked to see one of the world&rsquo;s top talents, but instead witnessed a fearless and physically commanding performance from the Italian underdog.
&ldquo;It was a really tough match,&rdquo; Pellegrino said afterwards. &ldquo;[It&rsquo;s] the biggest win of my career [and] I'm very happy about that. I hope to play another great match tomorrow.&rdquo;
Both players came out with intent, though the opening games were riddled with nerves and unforced errors. At 1-2, a double fault from Pellegrino handed Auger-Aliassime the first break. The top seed converted, but failed to capitalise on the advantage. In the following game, a series of sharply-angled shots and aggressive returns from the Italian earned him four breakpoints. Auger-Aliassime saved the first three, but couldn&rsquo;t fend off the fourth.
A second double fault from Pellegrino gifted Auger-Aliassime a 4-2 lead, but once again, the Canadian&rsquo;s serve wavered. The set returned to parity, and from there, the match turned into a slugfest.
Both players traded blows from the baseline, dragging each other across the clay with tight angles and punishing pace. Auger-Aliassime, lanky and loose-limbed, folded low into his service motion like a harmonica and fired pinpoint shots. Pellegrino, broad-shouldered and chiselled under his sleeveless shirt like he&rsquo;d been carved from Italian marble, absorbed the pace and struck back with ruthless efficiency.
&ldquo;Every match is really tough physically, especially on clay,&rdquo; Pellegrino noted. &ldquo;Yesterday, I played [for] two hours and thirty minutes, I think. But I'm prepared for that, and I know that every match I have to run a lot. I'm not scared about that.&rdquo;
At 5-5, with Auger-Aliassime serving, it seemed the set might progress into a tiebreak. But Pellegrino dug deep, pressuring the Canadian into errors and seizing the decisive break. He held comfortably to take the opener, 7-5.
The second set turned the encounter into a battle of wills; the demanding physicality of the match continued. Pellegrino saved two break points on his way to 4-4, while Auger-Aliassime had yet to face one.
But just as in the first set, it was the Italian who struck first. Loose serving from the top seed opened the door, and Pellegrino broke once more, serving out the match to complete a stunning upset.
Pellegrino moves on to the next round where he will face Nicol&aacute;s Jarry, who earlier today beat Gast&atilde;o Elias 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Elias, a Wild Card entrant, came agonisingly close to extending his dream run at the 2025 Millennium Estoril Open, but could not replicate yesterday&rsquo;s stunning comeback against Learner Tien.
The home crowd, packed into the stands and roaring with every point he won, created a charged atmosphere. They had come hoping for another spectacle &ndash; and Elias delivered, even if the final result fell short.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not easy to play locals,&rdquo; Jarry mused after the match. &ldquo;I've had some [matches like this] this year, but it is what it is. It's fun when you end up winning.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
With the match at one set all, Elias had a golden opportunity to clinch the victory while serving at 5-3 in the deciding set, but couldn&rsquo;t convert. Jarry capitalised, breaking back and ultimately closing out the match in three sets.
&ldquo;You have to know how to use that energy to your advantage. And in the end, I was able to do it correctly,&rdquo; Jarry added.
&nbsp;
Italy&rsquo;s Luca Nardi followed up his impressive first-round display with another confident performance, defeating Russian qualifier Alexey Vatutin 6-3, 6-2.
Vatutin, who had stunned last year&rsquo;s runner-up Pedro Martinez in straight sets just a day earlier, played an inspired game but ultimately couldn't match the high-flying Italian.
The Russian came out firing, pushing Nardi to the limit in a 23-point opening game, where the Italian was forced to fend off four breakpoints. Nardi weathered the storm and immediately struck himself, breaking Vatutin in the very next game to establish an early lead. He held serve comfortably to go up 3-0 and cruised through the next few games.
However, when serving for the set at 5-3, nerves briefly got the better of him. Down 0-40, Nardi had to save three break points. The Italian rose to the occasion, reeling off five consecutive points to clinch the set.
At the start of the second, Nardi broke again for an early lead, and sealed the win in a comfortable fashion, breaking Vatutin once more for a 6-2 score.
&nbsp;
Nardi books a place in the quarter-finals where he will play second seed Alex Michelsen.
&nbsp;
The American was made to work hard in his victory against qualifier Giovanni Fonio, ranked over 300 spots below him, but ultimately prevailed, winning 6-4, 7-6 (3).
&nbsp;
&ldquo;[I will] definitely [take away] some confidence [from this match],&rdquo; Michelsen said after the win. &ldquo;Clay is not my first surface, so every win on the surface for me counts, no matter who it's against.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
Michelsen started brightly, scoring an early break at the start of the match and seeing out the remainder of the set relatively untroubled. He seemed en route to a comfortable victory, but was himself broken at 1-2 in the second and had to dig deep to recover. He did so, breaking back at 2-4 and stabilising his performance for a 7-6 (3) win in the second.
&nbsp;
Nicol&aacute;s Barrientos and Rithvik Choudary Bollipalli got the job done early on Thursday, and were the first to advance on the day, securing their spot in the next round of the doubles draw with a 6-3, 6-7 (4), 10-3 win over Marcelo Demoliner and Gr&eacute;goire Jacq.
Joining them were the fourth-seeded Czech duo, Petr Nouza and Patrik Rikl, who notched a straight-sets victory over Kimmer Coppejans and Sergio Martos Gorn&eacute;s, 6-3, 6-4, in just over an hour.

ANDREA PELLEGRINO STUNS TOP SEED FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME

Num tremendo encontro de t&eacute;nis, o chileno Nicolas Jarry, s&eacute;timo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e 57.&ordm; do ranking ATP, ultrapassou o portugu&ecirc;s Gast&atilde;o Elias (339.&ordm;) por 6-2 e 4-6 e 7-5 para garantir uma vaga nos quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open.
O n&uacute;mero cinco nacional foi completamente superado no primeiro set, mas agarrou-se ao duelo, puxou pelo forte apoio do p&uacute;blico e liderou o terceiro parcial por 5-2 e match point, antes de consentir os derradeiros cinco jogos e ceder em 2h19.
&Agrave; medida que o encontro se foi prolongado, Elias foi lendo melhor o servi&ccedil;o-canh&atilde;o do antigo top 20 ATP, vencedor de tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos no circuito principal em sete finais. Al&eacute;m disso, ap&oacute;s um primeiro parcial no qual s&oacute; colocou 38% de primeiros servi&ccedil;os, o jogador natural da Lourinh&atilde; deixou de ficar &agrave; merc&ecirc; das respostas ultra-agressivas do sul-americano de 29 anos.
Dois dias depois de somar o segundo triunfo no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, primeiro ao fim de oito anos, o antigo 57.&ordm; da tabela ATP ficou a um ponto dos primeiros quartos de final no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e de bater dois top 100 pela primeira vez na mesma prova desde 2017.
S&oacute; que nos momentos de maior aperto, Jarry elevou imenso o n&iacute;vel exibicional, logo a partir da resposta, e mostrou as credenciais que fazem dele um dos mais perigosos tenistas em terra batida quando est&aacute; confiante &ndash; na &eacute;poca passada foi finalista no Masters 1000 de Roma. O ponto que deu o 6-5, por exemplo, &eacute; disso exemplificado: ap&oacute;s come&ccedil;ar a comandar logo a partir da resposta, Jarry fechou com um volley sublime que gelou o Est&aacute;dio Millennium num dia de muito calor.
Nos quartos de final, o s&eacute;timo pr&eacute;-designado pode vir a ter um duelo de luxo contra o canadiano F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime, principal favorito ao t&iacute;tulo (19.&ordm;, ex-sexto), caso o norte-americano ven&ccedil;a o qualifier italiano Andrea Pellegrino num embate que j&aacute; decorre.

Nicolas Jarry salva match point e bate português novamente para chegar aos quartos de final

F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime, Alex Michelsen, Nuno Borges e Marcos Giron ficaram isentos da primeira ronda e estreiam-se hoje no Millennium Estoril Open, um dia depois da terra batida ter abanado com uma jornada fren&eacute;tica recheada de batalhas e surpresas.
Esta quinta-feira, a programa&ccedil;&atilde;o volta a ser de luxo e &eacute; de tal forma recheada que figuras como Michelsen (38.&ordm;) e Giron (45.&ordm;), respetivamente segundo e quarto favoritos, atuam no Court Cascais &mdash; o mesmo onde, j&aacute; na reta final, Francisco Cabral (ao lado de Lucas Miedler) vai estar frente a frente com os irm&atilde;os Henrique Rocha e Francisco Rocha.
Para o Est&aacute;dio Millennium est&atilde;o reservadas as estreias de Auger-Aliassime (19.&ordm;), o melhor classificado entre os inscritos, ainda em sess&atilde;o diurna, e Borges (41.&ordm;), o melhor portugu&ecirc;s da atualidade, j&aacute; no hor&aacute;rio noturno.
Gast&atilde;o Elias (339.&ordm; e ex-57.&ordm;) foi o primeiro portugu&ecirc;s a celebrar no quadro principal e esta quinta-feira tenta carimbar pela primeira vez na carreira a passagem aos quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open. O advers&aacute;rio? Nicolas Jarry, ex-top 20 e respons&aacute;vel pelo afastamento de Henrique Rocha na v&eacute;spera, ap&oacute;s vencer um bra&ccedil;o de ferro de 2h51. Hora da vingan&ccedil;a no dia do trabalhador?

Fab Four

Nenhuma das tr&ecirc;s duplas portuguesas que atuaram esta quarta-feira seguiu em frente e o Millennium Estoril Open ainda n&atilde;o tem jogadores da casa apurados para os quartos de final de pares.
Na estreia em torneios Challenger, os jovens Gon&ccedil;alo Castro (16 anos) e Salvador Monteiro (17 anos) esbarraram na experi&ecirc;ncia dos alem&atilde;es Mark Wallner e Jakob Schnaitter (top 60 da variante) e perderam pelos parciais de 6-3 e 6-1.
As restantes baixas deram-se no match tie-break. Primeiro com Pedro Ara&uacute;jo e Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a a sofrerem uma reviravolta (1-6, 6-0 e 10-8) face aos cazaques Denis Yevseyev e Beibit Zhukayev, depois com Tiago Pereira e Gast&atilde;o Elias a ficarem &agrave; porta de uma recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o (perderam por 6-2, 3-6 e 10-4 com os alternates Ivan Gakhov e Alex Marti Pujolras).
A representa&ccedil;&atilde;o lusa no quadro de pares resume-se, agora, aos tr&ecirc;s que na quinta-feira v&atilde;o medir for&ccedil;as: Francisco Cabral &eacute; o segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie ao lado de Lucas Miedler, o austr&iacute;aco com quem uniu esfor&ccedil;os recentemente e logo com frutos &mdash; t&iacute;tulo no Challenger 100 de Madrid e final no Challenger 125 de Oeiras &mdash;, para enfrentar os irm&atilde;os Henrique Rocha e Francisco Rocha.

Três baixas lusas no quadro de pares

No duelo que encerrou a jornada de quarta-feira, e perante um Est&aacute;dio Millennium fervoroso no apoio, Jo&atilde;o Fonseca caiu na ronda inaugural do Millennium Estoril Open tal como em 2024.
Contra o neerland&ecirc;s Jesper De Jong (93.&ordm; da tabela ATP), o brasileiro (65.&ordm;) cedeu por 6-2 e 7-5 em 77 minutos.
Oitavo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, Fonseca chegou ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril como um dos grandes favoritos ao t&iacute;tulo, estatuto bem diferente de h&aacute; um ano &ndash; neste m&ecirc;s de fevereiro venceu o primeiro t&iacute;tulo ATP no Rio Janeiro depois de ter arrecadado o Next Gen Finals no final do ano passado.
O jovem de 18 anos cometeu demasiados erros n&atilde;o for&ccedil;ados e apenas amealhou 13 pontos na resposta ao servi&ccedil;o. Do outro lado da rede, Jesper De Jong ro&ccedil;ou a perfei&ccedil;&atilde;o taticamente: defensivamente irrepreens&iacute;vel de um lado da moeda, do outro muita qualidade no jogo de rede (v&aacute;rios servi&ccedil;os-volley), amorties executados na perfei&ccedil;&atilde;o e na altura ideal e tudo foi tirando o ritmo a um dos tenistas com mais velocidade de bola do circuuito.
A juntar a tudo isto, o rec&eacute;m top 100 de 24 anos lidou da forma ideal com o ambiente de loucura, sempre a favor de Fonseca, vivido no Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
Jesper De Jong vai agora enfrentar Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles, carrasco de Jaime Faria, novamente em sess&atilde;o noturna.
Antes, o s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (47.&ordm;), finalista do torneio em 2023, superou o alem&atilde;o Jan-Lennard Struff (79.&ordm;) por 6-1 e 7-5 e agendou confronto com o lucky loser cazaque Denis Yevseyev (258.&ordm;), respons&aacute;vel pela elimina&ccedil;&atilde;o de Kimmer Coppejans (280.&ordm;) por 6-2 e 6-4.
Outro ex-finalista da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o, o espanhol Pedro Martinez (48.&ordm;), n&atilde;o vai repetir o caminho da edi&ccedil;&atilde;o transata e saiu pela porta pequena ao perder contra o qualifier russo Alexey Vatutin (333.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-4 e 6-3. Vatutin ser&aacute; o advers&aacute;rio de Luca Nardi, vencedor na v&eacute;spera contra Aleksandar Kovacevic.
Foi um dia em cheio para os tenistas oriundos da fase pr&eacute;via. Giovanni Fonio bateu Yannick Hanfmann, Andrea Pellegrino ultrapassou o talentoso Dusan Lajovic. A exce&ccedil;&atilde;o veio por parte de Giulio Zeppieri,eliminado por Marton Fucsovics, opositor de Nuno Borges esta quinta-feira.
Fonio ser&aacute; o primeiro advers&aacute;rio de Alex Michelsen, Pellegrino o de F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime. Marcos Gironvai medir for&ccedil;as com Aleksandar Vukic.

Prodígio João Fonseca cai na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open

The Netherlands&rsquo; Jesper de Jong delivered the upset of the day at the Millennium Estoril Open, defeating Brazil&rsquo;s rising star Jo&atilde;o Fonseca 6-2, 7-5 in a high-quality encounter.
&ldquo;I wanted to prove something today,&rdquo; de Jong said after the match. &ldquo;I got beat down against [Andrey] Rublev [in Barcelona earlier this month]. I was kind of the underdog [in this match], and I went flying.&rdquo;
True to his statement, de Jong started the match strongly, breaking early as Fonseca misfired on a pair of long forehands. From the outset, it was clear de Jong came in with a precise plan &ndash; and he executed it flawlessly. He disrupted Fonseca&rsquo;s rhythm with a mix of pace, angles, and clever positioning &ndash; disguising drop shots, charging the net, and employing serve-and-volley to keep the Brazilian off balance.
&ldquo;You have to get him out of his rhythm,&rdquo; de Jong explained. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s playing his game he&rsquo;s one of the top five guys on Tour that can hit the ball so well.&rdquo;
Fonseca, often forced to go for too much, sent numerous forehands long or into the net, while de Jong defended resolutely, covering the baseline with discipline. For a significant portion of the match, de Jong wasn&rsquo;t winning points &ndash; Fonseca was losing them. The first set quickly slipped away from the Brazilian, and when de Jong broke again early in the second, it looked like the match might soon be over.
But Fonseca wasn&rsquo;t ready to give up. Buoyed by the support of the passionate crowd &ndash; applauding his winners, chanting his name, and even breaking out into an occasional song &ndash; he soon found his footing. He recovered the break, and leveled the set, cutting down on errors and wrong-footing de Jong with better shot selection and cleaner execution.
But with the scoreboard locked at 5-5 in the second set, de Jong held his serve to love, then pounced. Sensing hesitation from his opponent, he surged to a 30-0 lead on return, then capitalised as Fonseca faltered under pressure, surrendering two straight points to hand de Jong the win.
He will next face Bernabe Zapata Miralles in tomorrow&rsquo;s exciting night-session clash.
Earlier today, Hungarian Marton Fucsovics halted the charge of qualifiers at Estoril with a comeback win over Italy&rsquo;s Giulio Zeppieri, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
Fucsovics opened strongly, breaking in the very first game and holding for a 2-0 lead. But the early momentum was short-lived. Zeppieri quickly settled, stringing together three consecutive breaks to take control and wrap up the first set.
Fucsovics reasserted himself at the start of the second set. Though neither player could pull away, the Hungarian consistently applied pressure, earning four breakpoints at 4-4 and another three at 5-5 &ndash; none of which he managed to convert. However, Fucsovics raised his level in the tiebreak, sealing it 7-3 to send the match into a decider.
From there, it was one-way traffic. Bristling with confidence, Fucsovics surged ahead in the third set, dictating rallies and breaking Zeppieri twice en route to a resounding 6-1 finish.
He will next face Portuguese number one, and tournament&rsquo;s third seed, Nuno Borges.
Serbia&rsquo;s Miomir Kecmanović, the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open runner-up, began his 2025 campaign in convincing fashion with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Germany&rsquo;s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Kecmanović came out firing, dominating the opening set with clean hitting and relentless pressure to wrap it up in under 30 minutes. A routine win looked imminent &ndash; until Struff, trailing 1-2 in the second set and showing signs of discomfort, called for a medical timeout for treatment on his right calf. Remarkably, with his leg heavily strapped, Struff broke back immediately and threatened to turn the encounter around. Ultimately, Kecmanović remained composed, breaking the deadlock at 5-5 and sealing the match with an ace.
He will next face Denis Yevseyev, who advanced earlier with a win over Kimmer Coppejans.
In the opening match of the doubles draw, Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Denis Yevseyev and Beibit Zhukayev edged out Portuguese wild cards Pedro Araujo and Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a in a topsy-turvy encounter, 6-1, 0-6, 10-8.
The home pair started strong. They dominated the first set, winning over 60% of first serve points on return, and allowing their opponents just one game in the process. But the Kazakh duo responded emphatically, flipping the script in the second set and leveling the match in just 21 minutes. With the momentum shifting rapidly, the match came down to a tense super tiebreak, where Yevseyev and Zhukayev held their nerve to clinch victory by a narrow margin.
They move on to the second round of the draw where they will face the third-seeded German team of Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner, who earlier today eased past Portuguese teenagers Salvador Monteiro and Gon&ccedil;alo da Rosa Castro 6-3, 6-1. Entering the draw with a wild card and showing flashes of promise, the young pair were outmatched by the experience and consistency of their opponents.
Meanwhile on Court Cascais, alternates Ivan Gakhov and Alex Marti Pujolras moved on to the next round by beating Gast&atilde;o Elias and Tiago Pereira 6-2, 3-6, 10-4.

DE JONG UPSETS FONSECA IN TACTICAL MASTERCLASS

On a sunlit Wednesday afternoon in Estoril, Pedro Martinez cut a despondent figure, as his hopes of a repeat final run came undone at the hands of Russian qualifier, Alexey Vatutin. Vatutin stunned last year&rsquo;s runner-up with a clinical 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Martinez, the winner of Sunday&rsquo;s Super Shootout, came into the match with confidence. But despite moments of inspired play, he found himself outgunned by an opponent who seemingly had a counter for everything. In a match packed with high-octane rallies and exquisite shotmaking, Martinez&rsquo;s frustration bubbled to the surface &ndash; he paced the court, shaking his head, muttering critique under his breath, and at times openly berating himself with frustration. Both players started the match on solid footing, holding serve with ease through the early exchanges. The first cracks appeared when Martinez served at 2-3. Vatutin pounced, and earned himself two break points, converting the second one, and consolidating the break with a confident hold. Vatutin dictated play, targeting Martinez&rsquo;s backhand with low, flat shots that forced the Spaniard into defensive slices. The Russian was relentless in exploiting angles, dragging Martinez wide and keeping him off balance. Serving at 3-5, Vatutin faltered for the first time, offering Martinez a glimmer of hope with a string of uncharacteristic errors. The Spaniard fought back, breaking serve, and narrowing the margin. But just as quickly, the hope dissolved. Attempting to serve to stay in the set at 4-5, Martinez fell behind 15-40. Vatutin struck again, sealing the set at the second opportunity. The second set offered little relief for Martinez. His earlier, gentle self-criticism turned into full-blown outbursts, with the Spaniard visibly rattled and vocal in his displeasure at his own game. At 1-2, he held serve comfortably for the first time in the match, but pressure quickly returned. Vatutin earned four breakpoints at 3-2, and although Martinez escaped, the toll was slowly starting to show. His shots became riskier, and his game devolved into high-stakes aggression. He went for the lines, mixed in tricky drop shots &ndash; half of which were quickly snuffed out by the Russian. Despite the high level of tennis from both men, the scoreboard remained tilted in Vatutin&rsquo;s favor. He broke decisively at 4-3, then served out the match by converting his third match point to complete the upset. With the win, Vatutin moves on to the second round where he will face Luca Nardi, who advanced yesterday with a win over Aleksandar Kovacevic. On Court CTE, lucky loser Denis Yevseyev seized his second chance in Estoril, moving on to the second round of the main draw with a straight-set win over Kimmer Coppejans, 6-2, 6-4.&nbsp;
Yevyesev will now face the winner of tonight&rsquo;s clash between the fifth seed Miomir Kecmanović and Jan-Lennard Struff.
Elsewhere, another qualifier, Giovanni Fonio, continued his impressive form with a commanding 6-3, 6-4 victory over Yannick Hanfmann. Fonio played a near-flawless game and did not face a single breakpoint over the two sets. He will next face seed number two, Alex Michelsen, in what promises to be a tougher test.
Andrea Pellegrino became the third qualifier of the day&rsquo;s session to progress in the tournament. The Italian had to dig deep, but ultimately came out on top in his match against Serbia&rsquo;s Dusan Lajovic, winning 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-3.&nbsp;
With the victory, he secures a spot in the second round where he will meet the tournament&rsquo;s top seed, Felix Auger-Aliassime.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, home favourite Henrique Rocha kept the fans inside Est&aacute;dio Millennium on the edge of their seats during his marathon battle with seventh seed Nicol&aacute;s Jarry.
Rocha edged the Chilean in a dramatic first set tiebreak, winning 15-13. The Portuguese&rsquo;s powerful shotmaking and aggressive baseline game troubled Jarry, who admitted in his post-match conference that he had to &ldquo;do [things] a little bit different to have more chances.&rdquo;
Despite the early success, Rocha was unable to keep up the momentum.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I started to do a little bit more serve and volley to mix it up a little bit,&rdquo; Jarry said. &ldquo;He was very strong from the baseline, very consistent. [And] I need to be able to resolve problems like this to get more confidence. I&rsquo;m happy for this one.&rdquo;
Jarry regrouped after losing the first set, and ultimately claimed the win 6-7 (13), 6-3, 6-4. He moves on to the second round where he will play Gast&atilde;o Elias, who himself pulled off a remarkable comeback in yesterday's match against Learner Tien.&nbsp;
In the final match of the day session, lucky loser Bernabe Zapata Miralles earned a spot in the second round by defeating Jaime Faria 6-3, 7-6 (2). Faria, who spent the better part of the last two months on the sidelines with an injury, recovered a break in the second set and dragged it into a tiebreak, but ultimately lost in straight sets.&nbsp;

QUALIFIER QUALITY

Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles transformou a sorte em fortuna e sorriu no duelo ib&eacute;rico com Jaime Faria para inscrever o nome na segunda ronda do Millennium Estoril Open.
O espanhol de 28 anos (380.&ordm; do ranking dois anos depois de ter sido 37.&ordm;) foi repescado como lucky loser&nbsp;e manchou o regresso do portugu&ecirc;s de 21 anos ao triunfar por 6-3 e 7-6(2) em pleno Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
Recuperado de um edema &oacute;sseo no p&eacute; esquerdo, Faria atuou pela primeira vez desde que foi eliminado nos quartos de final do ATP 250 do Chile, no &uacute;ltimo dia de fevereiro.
A alegria do regresso esteve estampada no rosto e ajudou-o a construir a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o na segunda partida, depois de um parcial inaugural marcado por dois&nbsp;breaks consumados com duplas faltas. Mas as "costas bloqueadas" impediram-no de viver um bom dia no servi&ccedil;o (venceu apenas 55% desses pontos) e sem a pancada fulcral afinada foi ele quem sentiu dificuldades no&nbsp;tie-break, agarrado por Zapata Miralles para estragar a festa no fecho da sess&atilde;o diurna.
A derrota de Jaime Faria seguiu-se &agrave; de Henrique Rocha e deixou a representa&ccedil;&atilde;o portuguesa no quadro de singulares a cabo dos dois jogadores que j&aacute; estavam apurados para a segunda ronda:&nbsp;Gast&atilde;o Elias, apurado na v&eacute;spera, e&nbsp;Nuno Borges, isento da primeira etapa por ser um dos quatro primeiros cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie.

Jaime Faria perde duelo ibérico na primeira ronda

O n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s nacional Henrique Rocha (198.&ordm; ATP) n&atilde;o conseguiu marcar encontro com o amigo e compatriota Gast&atilde;o Elias e despediu-se na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open.
Contra o chileno Nicolas Jarry (57.&ordm;, antigo 16.&ordm;), o portugu&ecirc;s de 21 anos cedeu com os parciais de 6-7(13), 6-3 e 6-4 em 2h51.
O tit&acirc;nico tie-break do primeiro set, depois de recuperar de 5-3, acabou por descomprimir mentalmente Henrique Rocha, que encerrou o parcial ao quinto set point ap&oacute;s ter salvo quatro chances do sul-americano para conclus&atilde;o.
E, no fim de contas, o bem-conhecido servi&ccedil;o de Jarry foi preponderante para o desfecho. O chileno s&oacute; consentiu uma vez o servi&ccedil;o, s&oacute; deu quatro chances (todas no mesmo jogo), e sempre que havia uma pequena abertura do tenista da casa o assunto era resolvido com um &lsquo;ponto gr&aacute;tis&rsquo;.
No final, Henrique Rocha ainda salvou tr&ecirc;s match points no oitavo jogo e galvanizou o muito p&uacute;blico do Est&aacute;dio Millennium. S&oacute; que a servir para a vit&oacute;ria, Jarry n&atilde;o vacilou e marcou duelo com outro portugu&ecirc;s, no caso Gast&atilde;o Elias.
Numa jornada que j&aacute; vai longa &ndash; come&ccedil;ou hora e meia atrasada por causa da chuva &ndash;, ainda h&aacute; tr&ecirc;s embates para seguir no court principal e Jaime Faria j&aacute; est&aacute; em campo a medir for&ccedil;as contra o espanhol Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Henrique Rocha cede na primeira ronda em 2h51 contra ex-top20

Fez-se luz e, oito anos depois, Gast&atilde;o Elias voltou a celebrar no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril &mdash; uma reviravolta carimbada com pompa e circunst&acirc;ncia para iluminar o caminho aos demais portugueses que integram o quadro principal do 10.&ordm; Millennium Estoril Open.
Agarrem as pipocas, afinem as gargantas, esta quarta-feira a juventude toma conta do Est&aacute;dio Millennium e f&aacute;-lo maioritariamente em portugu&ecirc;s: Henrique Rocha, Jaime Faria e o brasileiro Jo&atilde;o Fonseca s&atilde;o as estrelas maiores de uma luxuosa e fren&eacute;tica jornada que conta com um total de 12 encontros no programa.
Sem tempo a perder, Henrique Rocha (198.&ordm; ATP) inaugura a a&ccedil;&atilde;o logo &agrave;s 12 horas frente a um dos jogadores mais conceituados deste card&aacute;pio: o chileno Nicolas Jarry (57.&ordm;), ex-top 20, que tem tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos ATP no curr&iacute;culo &mdash; as sete finais que disputou foram todas sobre p&oacute; de tijolo &mdash; e foi finalista do Masters 1000 de Roma na temporada transata.
O segundo cap&iacute;tulo do dia &eacute; discutido nas mesmas l&iacute;nguas e assinala o regresso de Jaime Faria (105.&ordm;), que dois meses ap&oacute;s competir pela &uacute;ltima vez encontra Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles (380.&ordm;), um lucky loser espanhol que &eacute; presen&ccedil;a habitual em solo nacional e foi quartofinalista no Estoril h&aacute; dois anos.
Durante a jornada tamb&eacute;m v&atilde;o a jogo figuras do calibre de Dusan Lajovic (ex-23.&ordm;, com dois t&iacute;tulos ATP e finalista em Monte-Carlo h&aacute; cinco anos) e Pedro Mart&iacute;nez (48.&ordm;), o vice-campe&atilde;o da edi&ccedil;&atilde;o passada e vencedor do in&eacute;dito Cascais Super Shootout organizado no domingo.
J&aacute; em sess&atilde;o noturna, os preparativos para o samba fazem-se com um atrativo embate entre Miomir Kecmanovic, finalista de 2023, e Jan-Lennard Struff, vice-campe&atilde;o do Masters 1000 de Madrid no mesmo ano; ser&aacute; um excelente apetizer para o aguardado regresso do cada vez mais popular Jo&atilde;o Fonseca &agrave; terra batida do Millennium Estoril Open, face ao neerland&ecirc;s Jesper de Jong.
GL

Fado e Samba

Day two at the Millennium Estoril Open brought a full slate of action, as final qualifying battles collided with early main draw drama under brooding skies.
In the standout match of an action-packed day, Gast&atilde;o Elias delivered a true thriller for the Portuguese crowd when he defeated Learner Tien in a 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 win. The veteran, playing the main draw with a Wild Card &ndash; and determined to make the most out of the opportunity &ndash; battled not only his opponent but also some stark realities &ndash; at 34, Elias held his ground against an adversary 15 years his junior.&nbsp; Despite his young age, Tien had already announced his undoubtable talent to the world of tennis. Last year in November, he was the finalist of the NextGen ATP Finals &ndash; the prestigious end-of-year event for the sport&rsquo;s young stars &ndash; where he lost a tightly contested final against another star of this year&rsquo;s Millennium Estoril Open, Jo&atilde;o Fonseca. &ldquo;I think that the key [to today&rsquo;s win] was just me staying in the match and believing in the tactics that I had [prepared] for today,&rdquo; Elias said after the match. &ldquo;And I think it worked out great.&rdquo; The first set teetered on the edge until 5-5, when Elias&rsquo;s serve faltered. Tien seized the opportunity, breaking serve and closing out the set with a composed service game. &ldquo;Even though I was losing, I felt like I was, a lot of times, on top of the match,&rdquo; Elias added. &ldquo;I was controlling most of the points. [But] I know that he is more of a counter puncher, so he was also comfortable [with] the way he was playing.&rdquo; But Elias, aided by years of experience, wasn&rsquo;t ready to bow out. He broke early in the second set for a 2-1 lead, only for Tien to immediately break back. What followed was a gritty tug-of-war &ndash; each point contested with full-bodied grunts and gritty determination, the sunbaked clay bearing the marks of their struggle. The pair traded more breaks &ndash; four in total by the midway point of the set &ndash; with the scoreboard locked at 3-3. Then came a marathon 15-point game, which Elias edged to break again. It seemed he was on track to force a decider, but nerves crept in as he served for the set and was broken once more. Undeterred, he struck again in Tien&rsquo;s next service game, finally sealing the set and dragging the match into a dramatic third. By now, the stadium had turned into a cauldron of emotion. This was Estoril at its rawest &ndash; clay, sweat, and tears &ndash; evoking memories of iconic matches from past editions. Joao Sousa&rsquo;s triumphant 2018 run, Nuno Borges&rsquo;s electric quarter-final against Cristian Gar&iacute;n &ndash; echoes of the moments reverberating through the crowd. With every point, every winner, and every near-miss met by a wall of sound, the match became a contest of nerves and endurance. And it was Tien who flinched first.&nbsp; Receiving at 4-5 in the final set, Elias rose to the occasion. He pounced on the first opportunity to break and, with one final surge, sealed his momentous comeback. &ldquo;I had [made] a few mistakes that I shouldn't have done,&rdquo; Elias said. &ldquo;And I knew that if I could cut [out] those mistakes, that I would have a chance. And I think that's what happened.&rdquo; Gast&atilde;o Elias advances to the second round, where he will face the winner of Henrique Rocha versus Nicol&aacute;s Jarry. Earlier in the day, Tiago Pereira opened the proceedings on Estadio Millenium in a final qualifying round encounter against Giulio Zeppieri, as the stands &ndash; thinned by yesterday&rsquo;s widespread power outage that crippled both Portugal and Spain &ndash; gradually filled out over the course of the match.&nbsp;
Despite clawing his way back into the match after dropping the first set, Pereira couldn&rsquo;t halt Zeppieri&rsquo;s final-set surge. The Italian advanced with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I think it was an excellent match from both of us,&rdquo; Pereira said after the match. &ldquo;He was a little bit better in the third set, but there wasn't much I could do.&rdquo;
Pereira rallied in the second set with a crucial break at 4-4, then sealed it with a flawless service game to raucous applause. But as the decider began, Zeppieri shifted gears. He claimed an early break and surged ahead to a 3-0 and then 5-2 lead. In the final game, Pereira&rsquo;s serve deserted him. He fell behind 0-40, fought back to deuce, but couldn&rsquo;t fend off Zeppieri&rsquo;s fourth match point. Zeppieri moves on to face Marton Fucsovics in the first round of the main draw. Elsewhere on Court CTE, Giovanni Fonio needed just one hour and 10 minutes to secure his place in the main draw with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 win over Denis Yevseyev. He now faces a sterner test in German veteran Yannick Hanfmann. Over on Court Cascais, second seed Andrea Pellegrino made quick work of former world number 37 Bernabe Zapata Miralles, dispatching the Spaniard 7-5, 6-0 in brisk 64 minutes. Francisco Rocha, hoping to join his brother Henrique in the main draw, came agonizingly close before falling to Alexey Vatutin&rsquo;s 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 comeback. &ldquo;Emotionally, it was not easy to recover so quickly,&rdquo; Rocha said of his performance. &ldquo;I finished [yesterday&rsquo;s] match at 8 pm, but I was 100% ready to win the match today. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to do so.&rdquo;
The young Portuguese started brightly against an opponent ranked over 300 places higher. He broke Vatutin in the opening game and rode that momentum to take the first set 6-4. He struck again early in the second but, serving at 3-2 with a potential straight-sets win in sight, faltered.&nbsp; Vatutin broke back, seized the momentum, and never looked back. Another break at 4-3 helped him close out the set, and he dominated the third in a one-sided finish.
 &ldquo;I also think you have to look at the positives and be fair to yourself,&rdquo; Rocha added in the post-match interview. &ldquo;I had a positive tournament, [and] I learned from the things I did wrong.&rdquo;
Vatutin advances to the main draw where he will meet last year&rsquo;s finalist, Pedro Martinez.&nbsp;
In the first match of the main draw held on Tuesday, Luca Nardi proved too hot to handle for Aleksandar Kovacevic. Nardi&rsquo;s mix of power and finesse earned him a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3 win in just over an hour. Kovacevic&mdash;champion at the Oeiras Indoors 2 earlier this year at Estoril&rsquo;s sister venue&mdash;struggled to find rhythm. Plagued by 27 unforced errors and a string of double faults, he never truly challenged Nardi, who committed just seven unforced errors. Nardi&rsquo;s statement win sends a clear signal to his next opponent: the winner between Pedro Martinez and Alexey Vatutin. As if mirroring the rising intensity on court, the clouds finally broke. Sunshine flooded a packed Est&aacute;dio Millennium, casting the stage in golden light ahead of the next showdown. Meanwhile, on Court Cascais, Aleksandar Vukic emerged victorious in a rollercoaster encounter against Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. The Australian got off to a shaky start, facing three break points in his opening service game. But he held firm and soon flipped the pressure, breaking de Alboran at 2-1 to take control of the first set. From there, Vukic maintained his lead with relative ease, facing just one deuce en route to a 6-3 win in the first set. Momentum shifted sharply in the second set. De Alboran found his rhythm and returned the favour, breaking at 2-1 and again at 5-2 to level the match. The American dictated play, leaving Vukic searching for answers. But in the decider, it was Vukic who regrouped and raised his level. He played with renewed intensity and focus, dominating on return and smothering de Alboran&rsquo;s serve: the Australian won more than 50% of points on de Alboran&rsquo;s first serve and over 80% on his second. He broke his opponent three times in the final set and closed out the match with a commanding 6-0 bagel. Day two at Estoril delivered drama, defiance, and a reminder that on clay, nothing comes easy &ndash; except, perhaps, belief.&nbsp;

EIGHT YEARS AFTER, GASTÃO ELIAS SHINES AGAIN

S&atilde;o nove os portugueses a competir no quadro de pares da 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open. Francisco Cabral, o melhor tenista nacional na variante, lidera um contingente com quatro duplas 100% lusas.
Francisco Cabral (54.&ordm; ATP de pares, antigo 45.&ordm;) j&aacute; venceu o maior torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s, em 2022, e no total possui dois t&iacute;tulos no circuito principal em cinco finais. Nesta edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open vai jogar ao lado do austr&iacute;aco Lucas Miedler, com quem venceu h&aacute; poucos dias o Challenger de Madrid e cedeu na final do Oeiras Open 125, e aparece com o estatuto de segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie.
Na primeira ronda, Francisco Cabral vai enfrentar dois portugueses que conhece muito bem: os irm&atilde;os Francisco Rocha e Henrique Rocha.
Al&eacute;m dos portuenses, outros tr&ecirc;s pares totalmente nacionais est&atilde;o no quadro de pares. Gast&atilde;o Elias vai competir com Tiago Pereira, Pedro Ara&uacute;jo com Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a e os jovens Gon&ccedil;alo Castro e Salvador Monteiro v&atilde;o fazer a estreia absoluta a n&iacute;vel Challenger.
Elias/Pereira, Ara&uacute;jo/Gra&ccedil;a e Castro/Monteiro estreiam-se j&aacute; esta quarta-feira. &nbsp;

Nove portugueses no quadro de pares do Millennium Estoril Open

Tennis fans across Portugal and beyond rejoice as the Millennium Estoril Open returns for its 10th edition. The country&rsquo;s premier tennis event and a fixture on the clay court calendar, Millennium Estoril Open celebrates the milestone with a galaxy of rising stars, seasoned veterans, and local talent.
This year, the tournament shifts from its usual early April slot to a new position on the calendar, running parallel to the second week of the Mutua Madrid Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event. The rescheduling offers a golden opportunity for players seeking match time and form ahead of the crucial second leg of the clay season, with Italian Open and Roland Garros looming large.
Leading the field is Felix Auger-Aliassime, world number 19 and a former top-10 player, who enters as the top seed thanks to a late Wild Card. The 24-year-old Canadian already has two titles in 2025, and is poised to thrill the crowd in sun-dappled Estoril.
Hot on his heels is Alex Michelsen, the 20-year-old American sensation. Fresh off a breakthrough run at the Australian Open &ndash; where he stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas and reached the fourth round &ndash; Michelsen arrives in Portugal as the second seed and one to watch.
Portugal&rsquo;s own Nuno Borges, the national number one and third seed, carries the Portuguese crowd&rsquo;s hopes. Alongside him in the main draw are compatriots Jaime Faria, Henrique Rocha, and Gast&atilde;o Elias, all dreaming of replicating Jo&atilde;o Sousa&rsquo;s iconic 2018 title run.
31-year-old Marcos Giron rounds up the seeding with a number four. The talented American brings momentum from a strong hard-court swing, including a third round of the Australian Open, en route to which he defeated two seeded players.
Also joining the action is 18-year-old Brazilian Jo&atilde;o Fonseca, one of the most exciting young prospects on Tour. With two Challenger titles and an ATP 250 trophy at the Argentina Open already under his belt this season, Fonseca arrives from a strong outing at the Mutua Madrid Open and is sure to electrify the Estoril crowd.
Familiar faces Pedro Mart&iacute;nez and Miomir Kecmanović, runners-up in 2024 and 2023 respectively, return in search of redemption and a long-awaited trophy lift.
Beyond the court, the Estoril Open once again blends sport with spectacle. Fans can enjoy family-friendly events, food court, and player meet-and-greets. The Slice Lounge, featuring menus by Michelin-starred chefs, offers a gourmet experience for visiting foodies.
This year&rsquo;s delayed start to the main draw allowed the weekend to shine with off-court events and early competition.
On Saturday, the pre-qualifying tournament gave eight young hopefuls a shot at glory. In gritty, high-stakes play, 17-year-old Manas Dhamne and 24-year-old Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a earned their spots in the qualifying draw, each fighting for their chance to walk the hallowed clay of the Estadio Millennium.
Later that day, the centre court hosted a Celebrity Pro-Am, pairing national tennis icons Jo&atilde;o Sousa and Pedro Sousa with radio personality Vasco Palmeirim and former rugby star Gon&ccedil;alo Uva in an unforgettable doubles match.
Sunday brought a high-octane super-tiebreak shootout, with eight main draw players competing for &euro;20,000. After a spectacular seven-match knock out phase, Pedro Mart&iacute;nez came out on top to claim the spoils, edging past Auger-Aliassime in an exciting final.
Monday marked the official start of tournament play, as the qualifying draw got underway.
At Estadio Millennium, Francisco Rocha gave the Portuguese fans early reason to cheer with a tense 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (6) win over Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Beibit Zhukayev.
Elsewhere on the main court, results were tougher for the home side: Andrea Pellegrino bested Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a 6-3, 6-2, while Giulio Zeppieri cruised past Pedro Ara&uacute;jo, 6-2, 6-2.
On Court Cascais, Tiago Pereira battled to a gritty 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Germany&rsquo;s Patrick Zahraj. Over on Court CTE, Alexey Vatutin scored an impressive victory, beating former top 20 and a Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato 6-2, 6-1, and Giovanni Fonio advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ivan Gakhov.
Meanwhile, Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles overcame fellow Spaniard Alex Mart&iacute; Pujolras, and Manas Dhamne, one of the pre-qualifying breakout stars, fell 0-6, 3-6 to Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Denis Yevseyev.
The winners move on to the second round of qualifying, hoping to earn a spot in the main draw, which begins on Tuesday. Stay tuned for more tennis to come!

Tennis Returns to the Riviera: Estoril Celebrates 10 Years in Style

A espera finalmente acabou: Gast&atilde;o Elias venceu pela segunda vez no Millennium Estoril Open, primeira desde 2017, ao travar o norte-americano Learner Tien, uma das maiores promessas do t&eacute;nis atual, com os parciais de 5-7, 7-5 e 6-4.
A competir pela primeira vez no quadro principal do maior torneio portugu&ecirc;s desde 2018, o antigo 57.&ordm; da tabela ATP (neste momento 339.&ordm;) &ndash; no que ao ranking diz respeito &eacute; o terceiro melhor tenista nacional da hist&oacute;ria &ndash; galvanizou-se com o constante apoio do p&uacute;blico que comp&ocirc;s o Est&aacute;dio Millennium para amealhar o maior triunfo do palmar&eacute;s desde mar&ccedil;o de 2023 e o primeiro frente a um top 100 desde o ver&atilde;o do mesmo ano.
Especialmente motivado sempre que defronta um opositor mais cotado, o atual n&uacute;mero cinco nacional somou o 45.&ordm; sucesso da carreira face a um jogador entre a elite do top 100 (Tien &eacute; o 69.&ordm; da tabela ATP) e para isso teve de puxar dos gal&otilde;es, j&aacute; que al&eacute;m do set de desvantagem tamb&eacute;m viu o advers&aacute;rio 15 anos mais novo (19 contra 34 do portugu&ecirc;s) liderar por 3-2, e servi&ccedil;o, no segundo parcial.
Com mais velocidade de bola &ndash; Tien &eacute; mais um counter puncher &ndash;, Elias tomou conta da maior das jogadas e colocou a direita a andar como nos velhos tempos para celebrar ao cabo de 2h25.
Apurado para a segunda eliminat&oacute;ria, Gast&atilde;o Elias pode agora medir for&ccedil;as com um compatriota, amigo e colega de sele&ccedil;&atilde;o: o lourinhanense fica &agrave; espera do desfecho do duelo de abertura da jornada de quarta-feira entre Henrique Rocha e o chileno Nicolas Jarry, ex-top 20 e s&eacute;timo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie.

Gastão Elias brilha e volta a vencer no Millennium Estoril Open oito anos depois

Um dia ap&oacute;s os triunfos &eacute;picos, Tiago Pereira e Francisco Rocha n&atilde;o conseguiram seguir para o quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open.
O primeiro a ir a jogo foi Tiago Pereira. No encontro de abertura do Est&aacute;dio Millennium, o algarvio de 20 anos (409.&ordm; do ranking ATP), em estreia no maior court do torneio, deu muito boa conta de si pr&oacute;prio, mas esbarrou no poderio do italiano Giulio Zeppieri (334.&ordm;, antigo 110.&ordm;) e cedeu por 7-5, 4-6 e 6-2 em 2h01.
Depois de arrancar a ferros o segundo parcial, o n&uacute;mero sete nacional deixou fugir o duelo no in&iacute;cio do setdecisivo, numa altura em que Zeppieri parecia de cabe&ccedil;a perdida.
Para Francisco Rocha (709.&ordm;) a derrota foi ainda mais dif&iacute;cil de digerir, j&aacute; que depois de liderar por 6-4 e 3-1 viu o russo Alexey Vatutin (333.&ordm;) prevalecer com os parciais de 4-6, 6-3 e 6-0 ao arrecadar 11 jogos consecutivos para celebrar ao cabo de 1h55.
Al&eacute;m de Zeppieri e Vatutin, Andrea Pellegrino e Giovanni Fonio tamb&eacute;m avan&ccedil;aram para o quadro principal.
Entretanto, face &agrave;s les&otilde;es de Aziz Dougaz e Ethan Quinn, Bernabe Zapata Miralles e Denis Yevseyevganharam uma segunda vida e entraram com estatuto de lucky loser. Tiago Pereira &eacute; o pr&oacute;ximo &agrave; espera de outra chance caso mais algum jogador do quadro maior abdique por les&atilde;o.

Tiago Pereira e Francisco Rocha ficam à porta do quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open

Num dia ca&oacute;tico, demasiado afetado pelo apag&atilde;o pela Europa, dois portugueses seguiram para a ronda de acesso ao quadro principal da 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open.
Tiago Pereira (409.&ordm; do ranking ATP) superou o alem&atilde;o Patrick Zahraj (272.&ordm;) num tie-break de terceiro set e ao s&eacute;timo match point com os parciais de 7-5, 4-6 e 7-6(6) em 2h56.
Francisco Rocha, 709.&ordm; da hierarquia masculina, prevaleceu no derradeiro encontro da jornada no Est&aacute;dio Millennium ap&oacute;s salvar dois match points. O portugu&ecirc;s de 25 anos celebrou por 6-4, 1-6 e 7-6(6) contra o cazaque Beibit Zhukayev (208.&ordm;) em 2h34 e conquistou o segundo maior &ecirc;xito do palmar&eacute;s em termos de ranking do opositor.
Cada uma &agrave; sua maneira, Tiago Pereira e Francisco Rocha venceram duelos memor&aacute;veis. Pela dura&ccedil;&atilde;o dos encontros, por se tratarem das respetivas estreias a vencer no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, pelo drama das retas finais.
Pedro Ara&uacute;jo (408.&ordm;) e Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a (1356.&ordm;) seguiram o caminho oposto e cederam no Est&aacute;dio Millennium. Ara&uacute;jo n&atilde;o resistiu ao italiano Giulio Zeppieri (334.&ordm;, antigo 110.&ordm;) e perdeu por 6-2 e 6-2 em 73 minutos. O transalpino &eacute; advers&aacute;rio de Tiago Pereira no embate desta ter&ccedil;a-feira de acesso ao quadro principal.
Gra&ccedil;a, um dos vencedores do pr&eacute;-qualifying que atribuiu um wild card para esta segunda-feira, viu o tamb&eacute;m italiano Andrea Pellegrino (237.&ordm;) impor-se por 6-3 e 6-2 ao cabo de 67 minutos.
Alexey Vatutin derrotou o ex-top 20 ATP e semifinalista de Roland-Garros, Marco Cecchinato, para marcar frente a frente com Rocha num encontro que vale um bilhete para o quadro maior.

Tiago Pereira e Francisco Rocha somam triunfos épicos no qualifying do Millennium Estoril Open

Foi sorteado este domingo &agrave; noite o quadro principal da 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open e a maior curiosidade foi ver Nuno Borges ajudar a definir a sua sorte ao participar na elabora&ccedil;&atilde;o da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o. O n&uacute;mero um nacional ficou no lado oposto ao dos colegas de sele&ccedil;&atilde;o, Jaime Faria, Henrique Rocha e Gast&atilde;o Elias, bem como da superestrela Jo&atilde;o Fonseca.
Nuno Borges &eacute; um dos quatro cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie do torneio (41.&ordm; ATP) e vai entrar diretamente na segunda eliminat&oacute;ria. O primeiro advers&aacute;rio vir&aacute; do confronto entre um tenista oriundo da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o e o h&uacute;ngaro Marton Fucsovics. Na parte debaixo do quadro o mais credenciado &eacute; o norte-americano Alex Michelsen.
Do lado de cima, encabe&ccedil;ado por F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime (19.&ordm;), h&aacute; tr&ecirc;s portugueses e dois podem defrontar-se na segunda ronda: Henrique Rocha vai estrear-se contra o s&eacute;timo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie Nicolas Jarry, Gast&atilde;o Elias encara a jovem promessa Learner Tien.
J&aacute; Jaime Faria vai abrir contra um qualifier e Jo&atilde;o Fonseca, a nova conqueluche, vai ter pela frente o neerland&ecirc;s Jesper De Jong e pode ser, precisamente, o opositor do n&uacute;mero dois nacional na segunda eliminat&oacute;ria.

Nuno Borges com caminho oposto ao dos compatriotas e João Fonseca

Depois de F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime, e j&aacute; ap&oacute;s Jaime Faria entrar diretamente no quadro principal, dois wild cards ficaram dispon&iacute;veis e os mesmos foram atribu&iacute;dos a tenistas da casa: Henrique Rocha e Gast&atilde;o Elias foram os escolhidos e juntam-se a Faria e a Nuno Borges no grupo luso na competi&ccedil;&atilde;o maior da 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s.
Henrique Rocha vai disputar o Millennium Estoril Open pela terceira vez consecutiva. Em 2023, furou a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o e cedeu na primeira ronda. Na &eacute;poca passada ofereceu bastante resist&ecirc;ncia a Gael Monfils, mas viu o carism&aacute;tico franc&ecirc;s seguir em frente.
J&aacute; Gast&atilde;o Elias vai jogar a competi&ccedil;&atilde;o pela oitava vez, quinta no quadro principal. Esta vai ser a sua primeira apari&ccedil;&atilde;o na prova maior desde 2018, um ano depois de ter vencido o &uacute;nico embate no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
Na fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o ser&atilde;o quatro os tenistas nacionais a ir a jogo: Pedro Ara&uacute;jo, Tiago Pereira e os wild cards Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a e Francisco Rocha. Os quatro v&atilde;o a jogo j&aacute; esta segunda-feira.

Henrique Rocha e Gastão Elias galardoados com convites para quadro principal 

Mais do que um &lsquo;tiroteio&rsquo;, o palco principal do Millennium Estoril Open assistir&aacute; hoje a um &lsquo;tiroc&iacute;nio&rsquo; &mdash; termo que significa per&iacute;odo de aprendizado, pr&aacute;tica ou experi&ecirc;ncia.
E vai ser mesmo uma experi&ecirc;ncia in&eacute;dita, porque o Cascais Super Shootout trata-se de algo completamente novo na hist&oacute;ria do maior evento ten&iacute;stico portugu&ecirc;s, com oito vedetas a protagonizarem uma s&eacute;rie de confrontos r&aacute;pidos (um &uacute;nico match tie-break at&eacute; 10 pontos) at&eacute; &agrave; consagra&ccedil;&atilde;o do vencedor final.
O &lsquo;sobrevivente&rsquo; recebe um chorudo cheque de 20.000 euros ofertado pela C&acirc;mara Municipal de Cascais, anfitri&atilde; e partner do torneio desde a primeira hora.
O formato compacto permite aos espetadores assistirem a um galvanizante mini-torneio, em que cada ponto dos sete duelos (quatro correspondentes &agrave; primeira ronda, dois relativos &agrave;s meias-finais e um correspondente &agrave; final) vale ouro &mdash; para al&eacute;m do aliciante suplementar de ver tr&ecirc;s representantes lusos medirem for&ccedil;as com cinco advers&aacute;rios internacionais de monta, liderados pelo cabe&ccedil;a de cartaz do torneio.
Elenco do Cascais Super Shootout (15h, Est&aacute;dio Millennium):
ATP #19 Felix Auger-Aliassime ATP #38 Alex Michelsen ATP #41 Nuno Borges ATP #48 Pedro Mart&iacute;nez ATP #69 Learner Tien ATP #105 Jaime Faria ATP #198 Henrique Rocha Um wild card de &uacute;ltima hora

Oito estrelas no Cascais Super Shootout

Pedro Ara&uacute;jo, Francisco Rocha e Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a foram os primeiros portugueses a celebrar no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e apuraram-se para a &uacute;ltima ronda do pr&eacute;-qualifying do 10.&ordm; Millennium Estoril Open.
Em pleno Est&aacute;dio Millennium, o primeiro jogador a seguir em frente neste formato in&eacute;dito foi Pedro Ara&uacute;jo (408.&ordm; classificado no ranking ATP). O mais cotado dos portugueses que fazem parte deste elenco abriu o fim de semana com uma vit&oacute;ria por 6-2 e 6-0 sobre o jovem Vicente Couto, de 18 anos.
No domingo, o lisboeta de 23 anos vai jogar uma das duas finais do pr&eacute;-qualifying &nbsp;com o parceiro de treinos Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a (1356.&ordm;), que entrou na competi&ccedil;&atilde;o com um triunfo mais equilibrado, por 6-3 e 7-6(3), sobre Salvador Monteiro, de apenas 17 anos.
O outro portugu&ecirc;s a avan&ccedil;ar para a ronda final desta fase foi Francisco Rocha (709.&ordm;). O portuense n&atilde;o perdeu tempo no duelo com Gon&ccedil;alo Castro, de apenas 16 anos, e triunfou por 6-2 e 6-1 para marcar encontro com Manas Dhamne (760.&ordm;).
O indiano, &uacute;nico participante estrangeiro, jogou a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o do ATP Masters 1000 de Madrid na semana passada e este s&aacute;bado superou Jo&atilde;o Lu&iacute;s Silva por 6-2 e 6-3 no &uacute;ltimo embate do Est&aacute;dio Millennium.

Araújo, Rocha e Graça mais perto do qualifying

O canadiano F&eacute;lix Auger-Aliassime (19.&ordm; ATP) recebeu um&nbsp;wild card para o quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open e vai abrilhantar o elenco da 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do maior torneio do pa&iacute;s.
O canadiano de 24 anos foi quartofinalista do Millennium Estoril Open em 2022, ano em que atingiu a melhor classifica&ccedil;&atilde;o da carreira no ranking mundial (chegou ao sexto posto) e que fechou com a conquista da Ta&ccedil;a Davis pelo Canad&aacute;.
Jaime Faria tinha recebido o primeiro&nbsp;wild card para o quadro principal, mas entretanto teve entrada direta no torneio, pelo que a organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o ainda tem dois convites por atribuir.
&nbsp;

Félix Auger-Aliassime junta-se ao elenco da 10.ª edição

A 10.&ordf; edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open come&ccedil;a em tons de festa e com formatos inovadores dentro do court. Durante o fim de semana, o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e o Court Cascais servem de palcos ao pr&eacute;-qualifying, o Celebrity Pro-Am (s&aacute;bado) e o Cascais Super Shootout (domingo).
No pr&eacute;-qualifying, oito jogadores lutam por dois wild cards para a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o. Pedro Ara&uacute;jo, Francisco Rocha, Jo&atilde;o Gra&ccedil;a, Salvador Monteiro, Gon&ccedil;alo Castro, Vicente Couto, Jo&atilde;o Lu&iacute;s Silva e Manas Dhamne s&atilde;o os protagonistas do &ldquo;mini-quadro&rdquo; que se divide entre este s&aacute;bado, com quatro encontros da primeira ronda, e domingo, com os dois embates que definem os convites.
A partir das 15 horas, o Celebrity Pro-Am juntar&aacute; no Est&aacute;dio Millennium dois dos melhores tenistas portugueses da hist&oacute;ria &mdash; Jo&atilde;o Sousa e Pedro Sousa &mdash; ao apresentador Vasco Palmeirim e o ex-jogador profissional de rugby Gon&ccedil;alo Uva.
&nbsp;

Sete portugueses no pré-qualifying do Millennium Estoril Open

A Betclic, l&iacute;der no setor de apostas desportivas e jogos online, &eacute; o novo Senior Sponsor do Millennium Estoril Open, o maior e mais prestigiado torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal.&nbsp;
Esta parceria, renovada por mais tr&ecirc;s anos, refor&ccedil;a o compromisso da Betclic com o desporto nacional, associando a marca a um evento de refer&ecirc;ncia no circuito ATP, que re&uacute;ne anualmente alguns dos melhores tenistas do mundo no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, perante uma audi&ecirc;ncia apaixonada pela modalidade.&nbsp;
&ldquo;O desporto est&aacute; no ADN da Betclic e esta parceria com o Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; um passo natural na nossa estrat&eacute;gia de apoio ao t&eacute;nis em Portugal. Estamos entusiasmados por fazer parte deste evento ic&oacute;nico e por criar experi&ecirc;ncias &uacute;nicas para todos os f&atilde;s da modalidade,&rdquo; afirma Tiago Sim&otilde;es, Country Manager da Betclic.&nbsp;
Para Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner e Diretor do Millennium Estoril Open, &ldquo;&eacute; com enorme satisfa&ccedil;&atilde;o que vemos crescer esta parceria com a Betclic, iniciada em 2024. O t&eacute;nis e as apostas desportivas partilham uma liga&ccedil;&atilde;o natural, baseada na emo&ccedil;&atilde;o, na estrat&eacute;gia e na paix&atilde;o pelo desporto. Ter a Betclic como Senior Sponsor &eacute; um reflexo do nosso compromisso em proporcionar uma experi&ecirc;ncia cada vez mais envolvente para os f&atilde;s, dentro e fora do court, refor&ccedil;ando o papel do Millennium Estoril Open como um evento de refer&ecirc;ncia no panorama desportivo nacional e internacional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Para al&eacute;m da forte presen&ccedil;a de marca nos courts e nas diversas ativa&ccedil;&otilde;es do torneio, a Betclic promete surpreender com novas din&acirc;micas e momentos exclusivos, refor&ccedil;ando a emo&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open dentro e fora do campo.&nbsp;
O Millennium Estoril Open 2025 realiza-se entre 26 de abril e 4 de maio, consolidando-se como um dos eventos desportivos mais aguardados do ano em Portugal. Com a entrada da Betclic como Senior Sponsor, o torneio continua a refor&ccedil;ar o seu posicionamento como um dos melhores eventos para as marcas se destacarem, prometendo sempre um espet&aacute;culo de alto n&iacute;vel para todos os entusiastas do t&eacute;nis.&nbsp;
Sobre a Betclic&nbsp;
A Betclic &eacute; uma marca de entretenimento especializada em apostas desportivas e casino online. &Eacute; l&iacute;der em Portugal &ndash; pa&iacute;s onde opera h&aacute; mais de oito anos &ndash; e destaca-se pela comunica&ccedil;&atilde;o irreverente, ousada e criativa, respondendo ao mote "Desafia as Odds&rdquo;.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Betclic, a leader in the sports betting and online gaming sector, is the new Senior Sponsor of the Millennium Estoril Open, the largest and most prestigious tennis tournament in Portugal.&nbsp;
This partnership, renewed for another three years, reinforces Betclic's commitment to national sport, associating the brand with a benchmark event on the ATP circuit, which annually brings together some of the best tennis players in the world at the Estoril Tennis Club, in front of an audience passionate about the sport.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Sport is in Betclic's DNA and this partnership with the Millennium Estoril Open is a natural step in our strategy to support tennis in Portugal. We are excited to be part of this iconic event and to create unique experiences for all fans of the sport,&rdquo; says Tiago Sim&otilde;es, Betclic's Country Manager.&nbsp;
For Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner and Director of the Millennium Estoril Open, &ldquo;we are delighted to see the growth of this partnership with Betclic, which began in 2024. Tennis and sports betting share a natural bond, based on emotion, strategy and passion for sport. Having Betclic as Senior Sponsor is a reflection of our commitment to providing an increasingly engaging experience for fans, on and off the court, reinforcing the role of the Millennium Estoril Open as a benchmark event on the national and international sports scene.&rdquo;&nbsp;
In addition to the strong brand presence on the courts and in the various tournament activations, Betclic promises to surprise with new dynamics and exclusive moments, reinforcing the excitement of the Millennium Estoril Open on and off the court.&nbsp;
The Millennium Estoril Open 2025 takes place between April 26 and May 4, consolidating its position as one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year in Portugal. With the addition of Betclic as Senior Sponsor, the tournament continues to strengthen its position as one of the best events for brands to stand out, always promising a high-level spectacle for all tennis enthusiasts.&nbsp;
About Betclic&nbsp;
Betclic is an entertainment brand specializing in sports betting and online casino. It is a leader in Portugal - where it has been operating for over eight years - and stands out for its irreverent, bold and creative communication, responding to the motto &ldquo;Challenge the Odds&rdquo;

Betclic é o novo Senior Sponsor do Millennium Estoril Open

Betclic is the new Senior Sponsor of the Millennium Estoril Open 

O Grupo Insparya, l&iacute;der europeu em sa&uacute;de capilar, &eacute; o novo Patrocinador Oficial do Millennium Estoril Open 2025, o torneio de t&eacute;nis mais prestigiado em Portugal. Esta parceria une duas marcas reconhecidas pela inova&ccedil;&atilde;o, alta performance, bem-estar, confian&ccedil;a e lideran&ccedil;a, refor&ccedil;ando o compromisso do grupo cl&iacute;nico em apoiar eventos que promovem a excel&ecirc;ncia e o rigor t&eacute;cnico.
 Segundo Francisco Freitas, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer &amp; Board Member do Grupo Insparya, &laquo;O Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; um palco de elite onde a dedica&ccedil;&atilde;o, a tecnologia e a confian&ccedil;a s&atilde;o determinantes para a alta performance. Na Insparya, partilhamos estes valores e trabalhamos diariamente para transformar vidas, oferecendo solu&ccedil;&otilde;es inovadoras em sa&uacute;de capilar que potenciam o bem-estar e recuperam a autoconfian&ccedil;a dos nossos pacientes.&raquo;
 Durante o Millennium Estoril Open, a Insparya marcar&aacute; presen&ccedil;a com um espa&ccedil;o exclusivo no recinto, onde ser&atilde;o realizadas atividades interativas dedicadas &agrave; sa&uacute;de capilar, incluindo workshops educativos, rastreios capilares personalizados e experimenta&ccedil;&atilde;o de tratamentos capilares inovadores. Com estas iniciativas, o Grupo Insparya pretende refor&ccedil;ar a proximidade com o p&uacute;blico e sensibilizar para a import&acirc;ncia da sa&uacute;de capilar na autoestima e qualidade de vida
 Para Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner e Diretor do Millennium Estoril Open, esta parceria &eacute; um passo natural para o crescimento do torneio: &laquo;A Insparya &eacute; uma marca de refer&ecirc;ncia no seu setor, com um compromisso claro com a qualidade e inova&ccedil;&atilde;o. A sua presen&ccedil;a no Millennium Estoril Open vem enriquecer ainda mais a nossa fam&iacute;lia de patrocinadores, garantindo uma liga&ccedil;&atilde;o entre desporto, bem-estar e performance de alto n&iacute;vel.&raquo;
 O Millennium Estoril Open 2025 decorrer&aacute; de 26 de abril a 4 de maio, reunindo alguns dos melhores tenistas do circuito ATP e proporcionando momentos &uacute;nicos aos f&atilde;s da modalidade. Tal como em edi&ccedil;&otilde;es anteriores, o torneio continuar&aacute; a atrair a elite do t&eacute;nis mundial, consolidando-se como um dos eventos desportivos de maior prest&iacute;gio em Portugal. Para o Grupo Insparya, esta parceria representa um passo importante no refor&ccedil;o da sua presen&ccedil;a num palco de excel&ecirc;ncia, com o qual partilha vis&atilde;o e valores comuns.
 Sobre o Grupo Insparya Fundado h&aacute; mais de 16 anos, o Grupo Insparya &eacute; l&iacute;der europeu em sa&uacute;de capilar, oferecendo solu&ccedil;&otilde;es inovadoras e personalizadas para a preven&ccedil;&atilde;o e tratamento da queda de cabelo. Com 15 cl&iacute;nicas distribu&iacute;das por Portugal, Espanha, It&aacute;lia e Om&atilde;, incluindo 5 cl&iacute;nicas em Portugal (Braga, Lisboa, Porto, Vilamoura e Viseu), o grupo j&aacute; tratou mais de 70.000 pacientes, com uma taxa de recomenda&ccedil;&atilde;o superior a 90%. Com uma equipa m&eacute;dica altamente especializada e sendo o &uacute;nico grupo cl&iacute;nico do setor com um centro dedicado &agrave; investiga&ccedil;&atilde;o tecnol&oacute;gica e biom&eacute;dica &ndash; o Insparya Science and Clinical Institute &ndash; o grupo desenvolve, continuamente, tecnologias exclusivas e tratamentos inovadores que garantem resultados naturais e eficazes. Esta aposta constante na investiga&ccedil;&atilde;o reflete-se na miss&atilde;o da Insparya: "Transformar vidas ao oferecer solu&ccedil;&otilde;es de sa&uacute;de capilar inovadoras e personalizadas, promovendo confian&ccedil;a, autoestima e bem-estar para homens e mulheres." Reconhecida pela excel&ecirc;ncia e satisfa&ccedil;&atilde;o dos pacientes, a Insparya recebeu o Pr&eacute;mio Cinco Estrelas pelo 5&ordm; ano consecutivo, foi Escolha do Consumidor pelo 4&ordm; ano consecutivo e &eacute; Marca Recomendada pelo Portal da Queixa pelo 2&ordm; ano consecutivo.
 Para mais informa&ccedil;&otilde;es sobre o Grupo Insparya, visite <a href="www.insparya.pt">www.insparya.pt&nbsp;</a>

Insparya Group, the European leader in hair health, is the new Official Sponsor of the Millennium Estoril Open 2025, Portugal's most prestigious tennis tournament. This partnership brings together two brands recognised for innovation, high performance, well-being, trust and leadership, reinforcing the clinical group's commitment to supporting events that promote excellence and technical rigour.
 According to Francisco Freitas, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer &amp; Board Member of the Insparya Group, &lsquo;The Millennium Estoril Open is an elite stage where dedication, technology and trust are key to high performance. At Insparya, we share these values and work every day to transform lives, offering innovative hair health solutions that boost our patients' well-being and restore their self-confidence.&rsquo;
 During the Millennium Estoril Open, Insparya will be present with an exclusive space at the venue, where there will be interactive activities dedicated to hair health, including educational workshops, personalised hair screenings and experimentation with innovative hair treatments. With these initiatives, the Insparya Group aims to strengthen its proximity to the public and raise awareness of the importance of hair health for self-esteem and quality of life
 For Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner and Director of the Millennium Estoril Open, this partnership is a natural step for the tournament's growth: &lsquo;Insparya is a benchmark brand in its sector, with a clear commitment to quality and innovation. Its presence at the Millennium Estoril Open further enriches our family of sponsors, guaranteeing a link between sport, well-being and high-level performance.&rsquo;
 The Millennium Estoril Open 2025 will take place from 26 April to 4 May, bringing together some of the best tennis players on the ATP circuit and providing unique moments for fans of the sport. As in previous editions, the tournament will continue to attract the world's tennis elite, consolidating its position as one of the most prestigious sporting events in Portugal. For the Insparya Group, this partnership represents an important step in strengthening its presence on a stage of excellence, with which it shares a common vision and values.
 About the Insparya Group
Founded over 16 years ago, the Insparya Group is a European leader in hair health, offering innovative and personalised solutions for the prevention and treatment of hair loss. With 15 clinics spread across Portugal, Spain, Italy and Oman, including 5 clinics in Portugal (Braga, Lisbon, Porto, Vilamoura and Viseu), the group has treated over 70,000 patients, with a recommendation rate of over 90%. With a highly specialised medical team and being the only clinical group in the sector with a centre dedicated to technological and biomedical research - the Insparya Science and Clinical Institute - the group continually develops exclusive technologies and innovative treatments that guarantee natural and effective results. This constant commitment to research is reflected in Insparya's mission: &lsquo;To transform lives by offering innovative and personalised hair health solutions, promoting confidence, self-esteem and well-being for men and women.&rsquo; Recognised for excellence and patient satisfaction, Insparya received the Five Star Award for the 5th consecutive year, was Consumer Choice for the 4th consecutive year and is a Recommended Brand by the Complaint Portal for the 2nd consecutive year.
 For more information about the Insparya Group, visit <a href="www.insparya.pt">www.insparya.pt&nbsp;</a>

GRUPO INSPARYA É PATROCINADOR OFICIAL DO MILLENNIUM ESTORIL OPEN 2025

INSPARYA GROUP IS OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF THE MILLENNIUM ESTORIL OPEN 2025

A l&iacute;der em bancassurance refor&ccedil;a seu v&iacute;nculo com o desporto nacional, garantindo a prote&ccedil;&atilde;o de um dos torneios de t&eacute;nis mais prestigiados de Portugal.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
A Ocidental, uma das principais refer&ecirc;ncias do setor segurador em Portugal, anunciou a sua entrada como patrocinadora e seguradora oficial do Millennium Estoril Open 2025. Esta parceria sublinha o compromisso da marca com o desporto nacional, assegurando a prote&ccedil;&atilde;o dos atletas, equipas e p&uacute;blico num dos eventos de maior destaque do t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
O patroc&iacute;nio refor&ccedil;a a posi&ccedil;&atilde;o da Ocidental como um parceiro estrat&eacute;gico do torneio, garantindo a cobertura de riscos essenciais, incluindo seguros patrimoniais, responsabilidade civil e prote&ccedil;&atilde;o para todos os envolvidos na organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o do evento.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Bruno Rodrigues, Diretor de Marketing Bancassurance do Grupo Ageas Portugal, comentou: &ldquo;Marcar presen&ccedil;a no Millennium Estoril Open juntamente com o nosso principal parceiro de neg&oacute;cios &ndash; o Millennium bcp &ndash; &eacute; de extrema import&acirc;ncia, pois refor&ccedil;a que as entidades est&atilde;o juntas no seu objetivo principal: a prote&ccedil;&atilde;o dos seus Clientes e, neste caso, do evento. Paralelamente, a presen&ccedil;a neste evento &eacute; uma excelente forma de celebrar a grande conquista deste ano da Ocidental: o alcance de um milh&atilde;o de Clientes. Estamos muito orgulhosos por este feito e certos de que, juntos, vamos levar mais longe que &laquo;Seguros &eacute; no Millennium&raquo;&rdquo;.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner e Diretor do Millennium Estoril Open, destacou a relev&acirc;ncia da parceria: &ldquo;A presen&ccedil;a da Ocidental como patrocinador e seguradora oficial do Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; motivo de grande satisfa&ccedil;&atilde;o. Sendo uma marca da fam&iacute;lia do nosso title sponsor Millennium bcp, esta associa&ccedil;&atilde;o faz todo o sentido e vem refor&ccedil;ar a robustez do torneio. O compromisso da Ocidental com a prote&ccedil;&atilde;o e seguran&ccedil;a dos atletas, equipas e espectadores traz um valor acrescentado inestim&aacute;vel, assegurando que todos os envolvidos podem focar-se no espet&aacute;culo dentro e fora do court. Este refor&ccedil;o da parceria &eacute; mais uma prova do crescimento e prest&iacute;gio do Millennium Estoril Open, que continua a atrair marcas de refer&ecirc;ncia nacional e internacional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
A Ocidental, com vasta experi&ecirc;ncia no mercado segurador e uma ampla oferta de solu&ccedil;&otilde;es para particulares e empresas, refor&ccedil;a agora o seu compromisso com a seguran&ccedil;a e bem-estar de todos no Millennium Estoril Open, proporcionando uma experi&ecirc;ncia &uacute;nica e diferenciada.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
O Millennium Estoril Open 2025 decorrer&aacute; entre 26 de abril e 4 de maio e os bilhetes para o evento j&aacute; est&atilde;o &agrave; venda em <a href="http://www.meoblueticket.pt/">www.meoblueticket.pt</a>.&nbsp;

The leader in bancassurance strengthens its bond with national sport by guaranteeing the protection of one of Portugal's most prestigious tennis tournaments.&nbsp;
Ocidental, one of the main references in the insurance sector in Portugal, has announced its entry as sponsor and official insurer of the Millennium Estoril Open 2025. This partnership underlines the brand's commitment to national sport, ensuring the protection of athletes, teams and the public at one of the most important events in Portuguese tennis.&nbsp;
The sponsorship reinforces Ocidental's position as a strategic partner of the tournament, guaranteeing cover for essential risks, including property insurance, civil liability and protection for all those involved in organising the event.&nbsp;
Bruno Rodrigues, Marketing Director for Bancassurance at the Ageas Portugal Group, commented: &lsquo;Being present at the Millennium Estoril Open together with our main business partner - Millennium bcp - is extremely important, as it reinforces that the entities are together in their main objective: the protection of their Clients and, in this case, of the event. At the same time, attending this event is an excellent way to celebrate Ocidental's great achievement this year: reaching one million Customers. We are very proud of this achievement and are certain that, together, we are going to take &lsquo;Seguros &eacute; no Millennium&rsquo; further&rsquo;.&nbsp;
 Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner and Director of the Millennium Estoril Open, emphasised the importance of the partnership: &lsquo;The presence of Ocidental as the official sponsor and insurer of the Millennium Estoril Open is a source of great satisfaction. As a family brand of our title sponsor Millennium bcp, this association makes perfect sense and reinforces the robustness of the tournament. Ocidental's commitment to the protection and safety of athletes, teams and spectators brings invaluable added value, ensuring that everyone involved can focus on the spectacle on and off the court. This reinforcement of the partnership is further proof of the growth and prestige of the Millennium Estoril Open, which continues to attract national and international reference brands.&rsquo;&nbsp;
Ocidental, with vast experience in the insurance market and a wide range of solutions for individuals and companies, is now reinforcing its commitment to the safety and well-being of everyone at the Millennium Estoril Open, providing a unique and differentiated experience.&nbsp;
The Millennium Estoril Open 2025 will take place between 26 April and 4 May and tickets for the event are already on sale at www.meoblueticket.pt.&nbsp;

Ocidental é o novo patrocinador oficial do Millennium Estoril Open

Ocidental is the new official sponsor of the Millennium Estoril Open

O Major Group, um dos principais grupos empresariais de Portugal, junta-se ao Millennium Estoril Open como Senior Sponsor, marcando a sua presen&ccedil;a no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis do pa&iacute;s. Esta parceria coloca em destaque a Major Development, a unidade de neg&oacute;cio dedicada ao setor imobili&aacute;rio, que estar&aacute; representada ao longo do evento.
Com mais de uma d&eacute;cada de hist&oacute;ria, o Major Group &eacute; um conglomerado empresarial com atua&ccedil;&atilde;o em diversas &aacute;reas de neg&oacute;cio, nomeadamente, no imobili&aacute;rio, sa&uacute;de, restaura&ccedil;&atilde;o e hotelaria. A sua entrada no Millennium Estoril Open sublinha o seu compromisso com a excel&ecirc;ncia, inova&ccedil;&atilde;o e desenvolvimento sustent&aacute;vel.
Para Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner e Diretor do Millennium Estoril Open, esta nova parceria representa um refor&ccedil;o do prest&iacute;gio do torneio: &ldquo;Ter um grupo empresarial da dimens&atilde;o e reputa&ccedil;&atilde;o do Major Group como Senior Sponsor &eacute; um motivo de grande orgulho. Esta colabora&ccedil;&atilde;o reflete a sinergia entre duas entidades que partilham valores de ambi&ccedil;&atilde;o, inova&ccedil;&atilde;o e compromisso com a qualidade. Estamos ansiosos para criar experi&ecirc;ncias memor&aacute;veis para os nossos espectadores, em parceria com a Major Development.&rdquo;
Para Gabriel Gosta, CEO do Major Group, &ldquo;o Millennium Estoril Open &eacute; um evento que simboliza excel&ecirc;ncia e prest&iacute;gio, tal como os projetos que desenvolvemos nas regi&otilde;es de Cascais, Estoril, Oeiras, Lisboa e Troia. A nossa aposta nesta parceria refor&ccedil;a o nosso compromisso em criar espa&ccedil;os inovadores e de elevada qualidade, promovendo n&atilde;o apenas o imobili&aacute;rio, mas tamb&eacute;m a liga&ccedil;&atilde;o entre cultura, desporto e bem-estar. Estamos entusiasmados por fazer parte desta hist&oacute;ria e contribuir para a proje&ccedil;&atilde;o internacional deste torneio de refer&ecirc;ncia.&rdquo;
A Major Development, unidade dedicada ao desenvolvimento imobili&aacute;rio, tem-se destacado com projetos de elevado prest&iacute;gio, como o Nouveau Lisboa, Vivere Vale do Jamor, Garden Cascais , Solo Oeiras, Vistabella Oeiras, To Live Cascais e os mais recentes Floratta Cascais e Reserva Apoema, localizado no Brasil. O seu modelo integrado de gest&atilde;o, que abrange desde a escolha do terreno at&eacute; &agrave; entrega das chaves, espelha a filosofia de precis&atilde;o e qualidade que tamb&eacute;m define o Millennium Estoril Open.
O Millennium Estoril Open 2025 decorre entre 26 de abril e 4 de maio, reunindo alguns dos melhores tenistas do circuito ATP, al&eacute;m de proporcionar momentos &uacute;nicos para os f&atilde;s da modalidade. Com esta nova parceria, o torneio continua a atrair marcas de refer&ecirc;ncia, consolidando-se como um dos eventos desportivos e de lifestyle mais prestigiados do pa&iacute;s.

Major Group, one of Portugal's leading business groups, is joining the Millennium Estoril Open as a Senior Sponsor, marking its presence at the country's biggest tennis tournament. This partnership highlights Major Development, the business unit dedicated to the property sector, which will be represented throughout the event.
With more than a decade of history, the Major Group is a business conglomerate with operations in various business areas, namely property, health, catering and hotels. Its entry into the Millennium Estoril Open underlines its commitment to excellence, innovation and sustainable development.
For Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner and Director of the Millennium Estoril Open, this new partnership represents a reinforcement of the tournament's prestige: &lsquo;Having a business group of the size and reputation of the Major Group as Senior Sponsor is a source of great pride. This collaboration reflects the synergy between two organisations that share values of ambition, innovation and commitment to quality. We look forward to creating memorable experiences for our viewers in partnership with Major Development.&rsquo;
For Gabriel Gosta, CEO of Major Group, &lsquo;the Millennium Estoril Open is an event that symbolises excellence and prestige, just like the projects we develop in the regions of Cascais, Estoril, Oeiras, Lisbon and Troia. Our commitment to this partnership reinforces our commitment to creating innovative, high quality venues, promoting not only the impo
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

MAJOR GROUP TORNA-SE SENIOR SPONSOR DO MILLENNIUM ESTORIL OPEN

Major Group becomes Senior Sponsor of the Millennium Estoril Open

A prestigiada marca alem&atilde; de autom&oacute;veis renova a parceria com o maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal por mais tr&ecirc;s anos.&nbsp;
A Porsche anunciou hoje a renova&ccedil;&atilde;o da sua posi&ccedil;&atilde;o de Senior Sponsor do Millennium Estoril Open, at&eacute; 2027. Nos pr&oacute;ximos tr&ecirc;s anos, a marca alem&atilde; continuar&aacute; a ser o &ldquo;carro oficial&rdquo; (Oficial Player Transportation) do torneio, mantendo a sua aposta neste evento exclusivo e &uacute;nico em Portugal, cuja d&eacute;cima edi&ccedil;&atilde;o decorrer&aacute; entre 26 de abril e 4 de maio, no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
O evento tem mostrado um crescimento consistente, alcan&ccedil;ando elevada cobertura medi&aacute;tica e tornando-se uma plataforma relevante para marcas de renome. Com uma cobertura televisiva impressionante de mais de 2400 horas e um valor de patroc&iacute;nio global significativo de mais de 108 milh&otilde;es de euros, o torneio reafirma a sua posi&ccedil;&atilde;o como um dos eventos, n&atilde;o apenas desportivo, de maior prest&iacute;gio em Portugal.
A continuidade da parceria com a Porsche fortalece ainda mais esta reputa&ccedil;&atilde;o, garantindo que o Millennium Estoril Open se mantenha como um ponto de encontro para os amantes do t&eacute;nis, neg&oacute;cios e experi&ecirc;ncias de luxo.
A Porsche continuar&aacute; a estar presente em todas as &aacute;reas do evento, com a exposi&ccedil;&atilde;o de quatro modelos espalhados pelo recinto, sendo a localiza&ccedil;&atilde;o mais original, a do Macan El&eacute;trico no Est&aacute;dio Millennium, onde tamb&eacute;m ocupar&aacute; a posi&ccedil;&atilde;o da velocidade do servi&ccedil;o (serve speed). Outra ativa&ccedil;&atilde;o que &eacute; j&aacute; um ex-libris desta parceria, j&aacute; pelo 4&ordm; ano consecutivo, &eacute; a ida ao Aut&oacute;dromo do Estoril, ao abrigo do ATP Stars Program, onde v&aacute;rias estrelas do t&eacute;nis mundial como Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Lorenzo Musetti, Diego Schwartzman e Jo&atilde;o Sousa, puderam acelerar com o piloto Ant&oacute;nio F&eacute;lix da Costa, campe&atilde;o de F&oacute;rmula E.
Nuno Carmo Costa, PR &amp; Marketing Manager da Porsche Ib&eacute;rica, sintetiza a l&oacute;gica estrat&eacute;gica por tr&aacute;s da renova&ccedil;&atilde;o da parceria com o Millennium Estoril Open. Alguns pontos importantes a destacar na fala: &ldquo;A renova&ccedil;&atilde;o da parceria com o Millennium Estoril Open reflete o alinhamento perfeito entre os valores do torneio &ndash; exclusividade, excel&ecirc;ncia e sofistica&ccedil;&atilde;o &ndash; e o posicionamento da Porsche como l&iacute;der no segmento dos autom&oacute;veis desportivos de luxo. Este evento n&atilde;o &eacute; apenas uma celebra&ccedil;&atilde;o do t&eacute;nis em Portugal, mas tamb&eacute;m uma plataforma estrat&eacute;gica para refor&ccedil;armos a nossa liga&ccedil;&atilde;o com um p&uacute;blico exigente e apaixonado por experi&ecirc;ncias premium. Tal como nos anos anteriores, vamos continuar a ter uma forte presen&ccedil;a em diferentes espa&ccedil;os: com a exposi&ccedil;&atilde;o dos nossos desportivos de luxo no court central e na entrada do recinto, com um stand espetacular para recebermos os f&atilde;s do t&eacute;nis e da Porsche e com um shuttle service composto pelos nossos modelos para os jogadores e para convidados VIP. De destacar ainda que, em conjunto com a nossa fant&aacute;stica rede de concession&aacute;rios, tencionamos levar mais de 800 clientes da Porsche a este evento desportivo &uacute;nico em Portugal. &Eacute; com grande entusiasmo que reafirmamos o nosso compromisso com esta parceria de sucesso por mais tr&ecirc;s anos.&rdquo;
Para Jo&atilde;o Stilwell Zilh&atilde;o, Managing Partner e Diretor do Torneio Millennium Estoril Open, &ldquo;esta parceria &eacute; motivo de grande orgulho para a organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o do torneio. A Porsche, uma marca de prest&iacute;gio mundial, junta-se a um grupo seleto de patrocinadores composto por marcas de refer&ecirc;ncia nacional e internacional. Temos sido reconhecidos como um torneio de excel&ecirc;ncia e, por isso, buscamos sempre estar acompanhados dos melhores parceiros. A presen&ccedil;a da Porsche&eacute; mais uma prova desse objetivo e o ATP reconheceu inclusive o nosso evento como um dos melhores do mundo na &aacute;rea de Player Transportation.&nbsp; O Millennium Estoril Open vai muito al&eacute;m de um simples torneio de t&eacute;nis: &eacute; um evento &uacute;nico de rela&ccedil;&otilde;es p&uacute;blicas e networking, onde conex&otilde;es s&atilde;o fortalecidas, novas parcerias s&atilde;o criadas e muitos neg&oacute;cios s&atilde;o concretizados&rdquo;.
Em 2025, o Millennium Estoril Open ter&aacute;, excepcionalmente, a categoria de 175, voltando a ser um ATP 250 em 2026 e 2027, mas a organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o garante que nem por isso duvida que ter&aacute; grandes nomes do t&eacute;nis mundial e certamente, alguns dos melhores portugueses, entre eles Nuno Borges, Jaime Faria e Henrique Rocha que t&ecirc;m estado a brilhar no Open da Austr&aacute;lia, o primeiro torneio do Grand Slam do temporada.
Jo&atilde;o Zilh&atilde;o acrescenta ainda que, &ldquo;al&eacute;m do t&eacute;nis de n&iacute;vel mundial, continuaremos a organizar o evento de refer&ecirc;ncia em Portugal, oferecendo uma ampla gama de din&acirc;micas, como ativa&ccedil;&otilde;es de marcas, m&uacute;sica, arte, gastronomia, um foodcourt excecional com diversos conceitos de street food, muitas atividades e gaming para crian&ccedil;as no fun center da FPT, passatempos para todas as idades e muita anima&ccedil;&atilde;o no recinto, proporcionando um dia inesquec&iacute;vel para toda a fam&iacute;lia no Millennium Estoril Open.&rdquo;
A par com os patrocinadores principais do evento, a Porsche refor&ccedil;a assim a mensagem de que o Millennium Estoril Open est&aacute; vivo e de boa sa&uacute;de no pr&oacute;ximo tri&eacute;nio.
At&eacute; 18 de fevereiro, os bilhetes para o evento est&atilde;o &agrave; venda em <a href="http://www.meoblueticket.pt/">www.meoblueticket.pt</a> com 15% de desconto e j&aacute; existem algumas sess&otilde;es perto da lota&ccedil;&atilde;o esgotada.

Porsche continua a acelerar no Millennium Estoril Open

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.

Destaques