Stars War

They come from all over the world (21 countries!), holding a wide range of weapons and styles - not to mention the same hunger for victory. There is no doubt the 5th Millennium Estoril Open is the strongest edition ever. After two days of qualifying, this authentic stars war continues today with the first matches of the main draws.

Interestingly, the qualifying set up two meetings between national players and Aussies. The first one takes place today, and puts face to face João Domingues and Alex de Minaur, who got his first career win in ATP clay courts here at Clube de Ténis do Estoril, one year ago, when facing precisely another portuguese player - Gastão Elias. The second one, which will take place tomorrow, will put the defending champion João Sousa against Alexei Popyrin, best known for winning the title at the 2017 Rolang Garros junior championship. 

This afternoon, also at the Estádio Millennium, Pedro Sousa will make his debut in the current edition. The portuguese no.2 will face Reilly Opelka, who doesn't go unnoticed, thanks to his nearly 7 ft. The match between the Lisbon-player and the North American giant will be held at 3 pm local time. 

And the aforementioned stars war will occur, not only in the singles draw, but also in the doubles lineup. The third-seeds João Sousa and Leonardo Mayer, whom reached the semis at the previous edition of Millennium Estoril Open, repeating that feat at this year's Australian Open, are back to action, ending up the first day of the main draw. Nenad Zimonjic (alongside Dusan Lajovic) and Robert Lindstedt (alongside Simone Bolelli), two specialists in the doubles tour with a curriculum that speaks for itself, will walk onto the clay of Court Cascais.