Priemeira vez no Millennium Estoril Open, primeiro t&iacute;tulo. Casper Ruud, primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, chegou, viu e venceu para arrecadar o 10.&ordm; trof&eacute;u da carreira, mas primeiro na presente temporada e primeiro desde Gastad, em Julho de 2022.&nbsp;
No final do duelo frente ao contempor&acirc;neo Miormir Kecmanovic, o melhor tenista noruegu&ecirc;s de todos os tempos mostrou-se encantado com a semana no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e na cidade. E deixou a porta aberta para o regresso. "Adorava tentar volta. N&atilde;o tenho a certeza se a semana ser&aacute; igual no pr&oacute;ximo ano, mas gosto do facto de terem colocado um torneio na Europa antes de Monte-Carlo, o que &eacute; perfeito para preparar para a terra batida se n&atilde;o jogar muito bem em Miami. A n&atilde;o ser que Miami corra muito bem, acho que &eacute; prov&aacute;vel voltar. &Eacute; um dos meus 250 preferidos. Trataram-me muito bem, os est&aacute;dios estiveram sempre cheios nos meus encontros, os f&atilde;s foram incr&iacute;veis, boa comida, bom ambiente. E &eacute; tudo muito tranquilo no clube. Os campos s&atilde;o mesmo ao lado do gin&aacute;sio. E tive tamb&eacute;m boas experi&ecirc;ncias fora do court e isso &eacute; sempre importante quando um jogador decide se volta ou n&atilde;o".
Sobre o nono t&iacute;tulo no p&oacute; de tijolo e os dois d&iacute;gitos alcan&ccedil;ados - sempre no escal&atilde;o mais baixo do ATP Tour, apesar das duas finais em Grand Slam e no ATP Finals -, Ruud mostrou satisfeito essencialmente pela mensagem que transmite ao balne&aacute;rio. "O plano este ano n&atilde;o &eacute; jogar demasiados 250 para ver como estou nos torneios maiores. Este vai ser um dos poucos que vou jogar e ganh&aacute;-lo &eacute; um bom sentimento. N&atilde;o me interessa muito se &eacute; 250, 500 ou 1000. N&atilde;o posso falar muito porque nunca ganhei desses, mas jogar uma final, at&eacute; se for um Grand Slam, &eacute; sempre entusiasmante, significa que estivemos bem durante a semana. O meu plano &eacute; ganhar algo maior do que um 250. J&aacute; tenho 10, &eacute; um grande n&uacute;mero e um grande feito, mas quero ganhar torneios maiores e vou ter oportunidades nas pr&oacute;ximas semanas. Mas &eacute; um arraque perfeito. Vou com din&acirc;mica para Monte-Carlo, mostrei que estou de volta, no caminho certo e espero estar confort&aacute;vel a jogar bem em terra batida. Espero que os meus advers&aacute;rios vejam. Se compararem com o que joguei em terra e r&aacute;pido, v&atilde;o ver que ganhei o primeiro torneio em terra. &Eacute; bom sinal para mim", comentou o novo n&uacute;mero quatro mundial a partir desta segunda-feira.
Depois da final do Challenger de Braga em 2018, &agrave; segunda vinda a Portugal, Casper Ruud foi um passo mais longe e encantou tudo e todos no Millennium Estoril Open. Ficamos a aguardar o regresso.
&nbsp;

Casper Ruud sem dúvidas: "O Millennium Estoril Open é dos meus ATP 250 favoritos"

Os belgas Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen s&atilde;o os novos campe&otilde;es do Millennium Estoril Open. Um dia depois de afastarem os vencedores de 2022, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral, os quartos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie derrotaram os s&eacute;rvios Nikola Cacic e Miomir Kecmanovic (que tamb&eacute;m foi vice-campe&atilde;o em singulares) por 6-3 e 6-4.
Num duelo muito marcado pelos problemas g&aacute;stricos de Cacic (servia e movia-se com bastaste dificuldade), os belgas n&atilde;o deram hip&oacute;teses &agrave; dupla opositora a partir do break madrugador sofrido no terceiro jogo para erguer o s&eacute;timo t&iacute;tulo ATP enquanto dupla, segundo de 2023. Um triunfo que tamb&eacute;m lhes permite ascender ao nono lugar na corrida para o ATP Finals.
Kecmanovic tornou-se o primeiro tenista da hist&oacute;ria do Millennium Estoril Open a disputar as duas finais da mesma edi&ccedil;&atilde;o, mas acabou por ter um domingo de P&aacute;scoa com dois desaire, neste que foi o segundo torneio ATP com o amigo Cacic.
&nbsp;

Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen sagram-se campeões de pares

O noruegu&ecirc;s Casper Ruud sagrou-se, este domingo, campe&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open e tornou-se no melhor classificado a vencer o maior torneio de t&eacute;nis organizado em Portugal.
A disputar pela primeira vez o Millennium Estoril Open e com o estatuto de primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie a seu cargo, o n&uacute;mero cinco do&nbsp;ranking ATP imp&ocirc;s-se ao s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (40.&ordm;) em duas partidas, com os parciais de 6-2 e 7-6(3), para erguer o primeiro t&iacute;tulo da temporada e 10.&ordm; da carreira (dos quais nove foram em terra batida).
Depois de superar Jo&atilde;o Sousa (campe&atilde;o em 2018), Sebastian Baez (vencedor em 2022) e o "tomba-gigantes" Quentin Halys num emocionante e dram&aacute;tico&nbsp;tie-break da terceira partida, Casper Ruud derrotou o amigo Miomir Kecmanovic ap&oacute;s 1h49 de um duelo em que salvou os tr&ecirc;s pontos de break que enfrentou &mdash; todos no &uacute;ltimo set.
N&uacute;mero cinco do ranking mundial, Casper Ruud sucedeu a Richard Gasquet (2015), Nicolas Almagro (2016), Pablo Carre&ntilde;o-Busta (2017), Jo&atilde;o Sousa (2018), Stefanos Tsitsipas (2019), Albert Ramos-Vinolas (2021) e Sebastian Baez (2022) numa galeria de campe&otilde;es em que passou a ser o jogador com melhor classifica&ccedil;&atilde;o a erguer o trof&eacute;u.

Casper Ruud é o novo campeão do Millennium Estoril Open

It&rsquo;s showtime. Com sol, casa cheia e em pleno domingo de P&aacute;scoa, Casper Ruud e Miomir Kecmanovic s&atilde;o os finalistas da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open.
Um &eacute; o cabe&ccedil;a de cartaz e re&uacute;ne em si grande parte das aten&ccedil;&otilde;es desde que pisou pela primeira vez a terra batida do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril; o outro desenhou um percurso mais discreto e, curiosamente, mais impressionante.
Ruud chegou ao Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril como n&uacute;mero cinco mundial depois de um ano em que explodiu para a ribalta ao disputar as finais de Roland-Garros, do US Open e do ATP Finals, resultados que o ajudaram a chegar ao segundo lugar do ranking. Kecmanovic come&ccedil;ou esta &eacute;poca a disputar a terceira final em torneios do circuito principal e, algumas semanas depois, chegou &agrave; melhor classifica&ccedil;&atilde;o da carreira (27.&ordm; lugar).
Mas nada disto importar&aacute; a partir das 15h30, quando o portugu&ecirc;s Carlos Ramos disser, do alto da sua cadeira, o &ldquo;Ready? Play!&rdquo; pelo qual todos esperamos.
Discutida sem segredos &mdash;&nbsp;conhecem-se h&aacute; sensivelmente uma d&eacute;cada &mdash; e com o frente a frente profissional favor&aacute;vel a Kecmanovic (2-1) a adicionar mais um motivo de interesse, a final do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis organizado em Portugal ser&aacute; o que tem de ser: uma verdadeira festa, cujo desfecho ir&aacute; coroar mais um campe&atilde;o in&eacute;dito (oito em oito edi&ccedil;&otilde;es).
Se Casper Ruud vencer, ser&aacute; o jogador com melhor classifica&ccedil;&atilde;o a triunfar no Millennium Estoril Open (superando o 10.&ordm; lugar que Stefanos Tsitsipas ocupava em 2019). Se for Miomir Kecmanovic o campe&atilde;o, tornar-se-&aacute; no terceiro mais novo a triunfar na nossa terra batida (Tsitsipas f&ecirc;-lo com 20 anos e, em 2022, o argentino Sebastian Baez venceu com 21).
Mas o espet&aacute;culo n&atilde;o se fica por aqui. Depois da final de singulares, Miomir Kecmanovic voltar&aacute; ao Est&aacute;dio Millennium para discutir o t&iacute;tulo de pares ao lado do compatriota Nikola Cacic &mdash; um feito que por si s&oacute; j&aacute; faz dele o primeiro jogador a discutir os dois t&iacute;tulos na mesma edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do torneio. Os advers&aacute;rios ser&atilde;o os belgas Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen, que no s&aacute;bado colocaram um ponto final na senda vitoriosa dos ainda campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral.
Vamos a isto?

Páscoa com espetáculo

Unstoppable Casper Ruud defeats Miomir Kecmanović 6:2 7:6(3) in the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open final.
In front of a packed stadium, Ruud stormed through the first set in just 36 minutes, and despite Kecmanović raising his level in the second set, the Serb couldn&rsquo;t turn around the match.
&ldquo;Very happy to win in the end. To see that last ball go out was a great feeling,&rdquo; said Ruud post match.
&ldquo;To play a final, whether it's a 250 or a 1000 [tournament] or even the Grand Slam, it's always an exciting feeling when you're [still] in a tournament on Sunday,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It means that you have done well and to win is obviously the most fun.&ldquo;
Over the last week, Miomir Kecmanović played a near perfect tournament. Defeating Luca Nardi, Jurij Rodionov, Bernabe Zapata Miralles, and Marco Cecchinato en route to today&rsquo;s final, the Serb dropped just one game on serve. He leads this year&rsquo;s tournament in breakpoints saved with a high rate of 90%, as well as winning more than half of his return games.
&ldquo;It was a good week. I ended up playing some good tennis. I made it to the final, so I'm pretty happy about that,&rdquo; Kecmanović said after his defeat to Ruud.
Before today, despite playing one more match, Kecmanović spent 4h 47m on court in his singles matches compared to Ruud&rsquo;s 5h 43m.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I've been lucky that I've been winning these matches fairly quickly, that I wasn't wasting too much time on court,&rdquo; said Kecmanović before the final. &ldquo;Hopefully, things go [even] better from here.&rdquo;
Kecmanović&rsquo;s scintillating form had him hope to join an elite group of players who won an ATP Tour title this season without losing a set (Jannik Sinner in Montpellier, Daniil Medvedev in Dubai and Carlos Alcaraz in Indian Wells).
Casper Ruud&rsquo;s road to the final saw him defeat Jo&atilde;o Sousa, Sebasti&aacute;n B&aacute;ez, and Quentin Halys. Seeking to add to his tally of titles, he was aiming for his first since the 2022 Swiss Open Gstaad.
&ldquo;It's the perfect start to the clay season for me,&rdquo; said Ruud yesterday after his semi-final win. &ldquo;I said that this year one of my goals is to try to win a tournament, so that I can get to 10 ATP titles. Nine and 10 is a big difference.&rdquo;
Nine of Ruud&rsquo;s now-10 titles came on clay &ndash; without a doubt his favourite part of the Tour.
&ldquo;I know the odds of me playing and winning many matches on grass are very small,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;So I just have to be in this mentality that clay is very important for me. During my season, and in my career, I will always have a very big focus on the clay season.&rdquo;
Speaking about his opponent, Ruud added: &ldquo;He's playing great. We are very good friends. I have known him since we were 14 or 15-years-old, and we have a good chemistry, and [it&rsquo;s] always fun to practise and play against each other.&rdquo;
Earlier in the year, when Kecmanović travelled to Oslo for his country&rsquo;s Davis Cup tie against Norway in February, he reminded Ruud of a promise the Norwegian had made. &ldquo;He still owes me dinner here [in Norway], so if you&rsquo;re watching this &ndash; I&rsquo;m still waiting,&rdquo; he said in a short video. Two weeks later, Ruud followed through, and a photo of the smiling pair, out and about, circulated on social media.
In the pair&rsquo;s third Tour meeting, Kecmanović leads the head-to-head with a 2:0 score, having won the two previous encounters in the first round of the 2019 Zhuhai Championships, where Ruud was forced to retire, and the round robin group of the Next Generation ATP Finals.
&ldquo;He has beaten me a couple of times in a row now. It's been some years since we played the last match. But it's great for us to play in the final. [It&rsquo;s the] First time we do that in our careers. We're going to give it all, and hopefully we'll still be friends after the match.&rdquo;
Needless to say, today, Miomir Kecmanović was going to face a different beast to the Ruud from four years ago.Asked about his chances for his best clay court season yet, he said: &ldquo;If I keep playing like this, and [keep] thinking the way I am, I have a good chance on the surface.&rdquo;
As the match began, at 1:1 in the first set, Ruud threatened an early break, racing to a 0:40 lead. He overhit an inside out forehand on the next point, but broke right after, hitting a sizzling forehand down the line. Ruud held for a 3:1 lead with a powerful serve, drawing a backhand error out of Kecmanović.
The Norwegian broke Kecmanović again in the next game, and served out the first set, holding to love, for a 6:2 win.
Serving at 0:1 in the second set, Ruud found himself in trouble for the first time in the match. After hitting an ace at 15:15, he double faulted, then after a long rally, put a forehand long, giving Kecmanović a breakpoint. He saved it by drop-shotting the Serb, then lobbing him when Kecmanović approached the net, and finishing the point with two overhead smashes. At Ad:40, Ruud double faulted again, and then made an unforced error firing a forehand long, and giving Kecmanović a look at another breakpoint.
Ruud, undaunted, hit a serve followed by a drop-volley. At deuce, Kecmanović blasted a forehand that missed the baseline, and Ruud escaped the danger with a gorgeous combination of serve-and-drop shot.
Ruud held for 4:4, at the start of the game hitting a searing on-the-run forehand winner down the line. Going tit for tat, the pair arrived at a tiebreak, Kecmanović saving five breakpoints en route, Ruud one.
In the breaker, Kecmanović began the proceedings. He won the first point when Ruud missed a forehand marginally wide. Ruud made up for the error with an overhead smash which ended up on Kecmanović&rsquo;s racquet, but uncontrolled, sailed out of bounds.
At 2:2 in the tiebreak, Ruud again fired his forehand for a down the line winner, earning himself the first minibreak. He gave it right back, when Kecmanović moved him deftly around the court, sealing the point with a wicked cross court forehand, just out of Ruud&rsquo;s reach.
But serving at 3:4, Kecmanović, locked in a baseline rally with Ruud, overhit another backhand. The Serb then tried a drop shot but missed. Ruud &ndash; at 6:3 and serving &ndash; now held three match points in the palm of his hand. He converted on the first occasion, pushing Kecmanović into his forehand corner, and winning the match with an unretrievable forehand.
Casper Ruud becomes the highest ranked Millennium Estoril Open winner, overtaking No 10 Tsitsipas in 2019, and the sixth No 1 seed to win a Tour title this season.
&ldquo;I did have some chances in the second [set]. If I [had] used them, who knows?&rdquo; mused Kecmanović after the loss.
Reflecting on his week in Estoril, Ruud was already looking ahead to the rest of the season. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a perfect start to win in the first week [of the clay court season],&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It's great momentum for me to get into the Monte-Carlo [Masters], and to show the [other] players that I'm somewhat a little bit back and on the right track.&rdquo;
Come Monday, Casper Ruud will reclaim the world No 4 spot in the ATP Tour rankings.
&ldquo;I won 10 [ATP Tour titles] now, so that's a great number and a great accomplishment. Now, I want to try and also win bigger tournaments,&rdquo; Ruud said.

CASPER RUUD REIGNS IN ESTORIL

Belgian duo, Sander Gill&eacute; and Joran Vliegen, are the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open doubles champions.
Gill&eacute; and Vliegen triumphed in an hour-long 6:3 6:4 win over Nikola Ćaćić and Miomir Kecmanović.
Kecmanović suffers a double heartbreak, losing the singles final to Casper Ruud earlier in the day.
Yesterday, the pair defeated the 2022 doubles champions and home-favourites, Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral, in the day&rsquo;s first semi-final, snapping the Portuguese pair&rsquo;s six-match Millennium Estoril Open winning streak.
Gill&eacute; and Vliegen, playing together since the 2013 Belgium F2 Futures tournament, stormed to their second ATP Tour title this season after winning the Maharashtra Open doubles in India in January. With the win, they move up to world No 44 and 45 respectively in the ATP live doubles rankings.

SANDER GILLE AND JORAN VLIEGEN TRIUMPH IN THE 2023 MILLENNIUM ESTORIL OPEN DOUBLES

2023 | DIA 9 - HOTSHOT 3 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 9 - HOTSHOT 3 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DIA 9 - HOTSHOT 2 - C Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 9 - HOTSHOT 2 - C Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DIA 9 - HOTSHOT 4 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 9 - HOTSHOT 4 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DIA 9 - HOTSHOT 1 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 9 - HOTSHOT 1 - C. Ruud (vs. M. Kecmanovic) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DIA 9 - HOTSHOT 1 - M. Kecmanovic (vs. C. Ruud) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 9 - HOTSHOT 1 - M. Kecmanovic (vs. C. Ruud) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | Dia 9 - FLY BETTER MOMENTS - At Millennium Estoril Open (PT)

2023 | Day 9 - FLY BETTER MOMENTS - At Millennium Estoril Open (ENG)

Casper Ruud overcomes Quentin Halys for a spot in the final of his maiden Millennium Estoril Open.
The Norwegian edged past his opponent in the final set tiebreak with a brilliant 4:6 6:4 7:6(2) performance, and books a place in his 16th ATP Tour final &ndash; 12 of which came on clay.
&ldquo;To book my spot in the final tomorrow feels great,&rdquo; said Ruud. &ldquo;First time I'm here in Estoril, and I've had a great stay. It's going to be even better with the final tomorrow.
&ldquo;It was obviously a very tough match, and I feel great,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;When the match is over and I win it, it doesn't matter if it's in the first round or a semi-final or the final. It's always a great feeling right there and then. It was the same today.&rdquo;
Playing in his first ATP Tour semi-final, Halys was seeking the biggest win of his career, but for now, he extends his losing record versus players inside the top-10 to seven matches.
With the win, Casper Ruud reclaims world No 4 in the live rankings, moving past Daniil Medvedev.
Ruud began the match by breaking Halys to 15, then followed it with a hold &ndash; at 15:0 playing a mesmerising backhand down the line.
With the early break against him, Halys tried his best to change the course of the match. He served well, winning points off deftly-struck groundstrokes, but he struggled to break the Norwegian whose holds came in a straightforward fashion.
With the score 4:3, 15:0, the pair played out a spirited rally from behind the baselines that ended with Halys blasting a forehand wide. At 30:0, the Frenchman stepped up. He adjusted his return position by stepping inside the court and pushed Ruud back with a deep forehand winner, but after missing two forehands, he conceded the game to Ruud.
Serving at 3:5, Halys played a deep, wide serve. He followed it with a dropshot, which Ruud sprinted to, playing it back through the middle, but the well-positioned Frenchman played a winner with ease. At 30:15 he struck a brilliant one-two pushing Ruud out wide with his serve yet again, and finishing with a forehand into the Norwegian&rsquo;s backhand corner. He did it again, in reverse, and finished the service game with a dropshot.
However, despite raising his level in the last few games, Halys couldn&rsquo;t stop the Norwegian from serving out the set for a 6:4 win.
Hoping for a better start in the second set, Halys began playing much more aggressively. He held to love in his first two service games. Receiving at 2:1, he played a long rally with Ruud, closing out the point with two well-struck volleys. World No 5, now visibly frustrated, overhit several forehands, allowing the Frenchman to break for 3:1 in the second set.
Halys then held for 4:1, ending the point with a backhand that skidded off the baseline, and after fending off a breakpoint at 4:2, he levelled the match with a love hold for 6:3.
As the final set began, the encounter &ndash; already intense &ndash; seemed to enter a new dimension. With long and brutal rallies, each point became a hard-won battle to be cherished. Both players held their first two service games, and at 40:30 and 2:2, Halys struck a monster of a forehand return to force a deuce. The pair fought shot for shot, Ruud struggling to close out the game, and only managing to do so on the eighth try.
Both players refused to budge. Halys held the next two games to love, Ruud to 15, and soon, the match arrived at a tiebreak.
Ruud began the decider by hitting a forehand winner down the line &ndash; a fine-margin shot that had to be confirmed by the Foxtenn technology. Halys, on serve, overshot a forehand marginally wide,&nbsp; then, pushed out of position by Ruud&rsquo;s wickedly-struck forehand, conceded another minibreak.
Ruud gave one back, double faulting on the next point, but recovered the advantage when Halys overhit another forehand. At 2:4, Halys missed a backhand, allowing it to fly marginally wide, and Ruud served out the decider to 2.
&ldquo;It's actually my fourth match this year that goes to a final set tiebreak, I think,&rdquo; said Ruud. &rdquo;I won two and I lost two, so I'm happy to get that record a little bit better.
&ldquo;It's never fun to lose 7:6 in the third [set], and it's a much better feeling when you win it.&rdquo;
Speaking about the match, Ruud added: &ldquo;It could have been at times better, but at the same time, he's just serving really well. I couldn't really handle his serve well today.
&ldquo;I had one break very early right away, and he was making some sloppy mistakes, double faults. [So] I got it for free. But then in the next two hours, I didn't really have a chance to break him. I was happy to get a couple of minibreaks in the tiebreak, and then play well enough [from] there to win it.&rdquo;
Casper Ruud advances to the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open final where he will meet a player he knows well, Miomir Kecmanović.
&ldquo;He's playing great,&rdquo; said Ruud. &ldquo;It seems like he's killing everyone in the matches. So [I] hope I'm not another victim tomorrow. But I'm going to do my best.&rdquo;
Kecmanović himself ensured that he will have a busy Sunday when, earlier today, he added to his schedule.
Together with Nikola Ćaćić, the pair defeated Gonzalo Escobar and Fabien Reboul 6:2 1:6 10:3 in a super tiebreak to book a place in the final.
Tomorrow, they will face Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen <a href="https://www.millenniumestorilopen.com/news/6431a3cc5136b2001dafdc98">who beat Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral</a> in the other semi-final of the doubles draw.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

O s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic ter&aacute; trabalhos redobrados neste domingo. Para al&eacute;m da final de singulares frente ao contempor&acirc;neo e n&uacute;mero cinco mundial Casper Ruud, o antigo n&uacute;mero um mundial de juniores jogar&aacute; ainda a final de pares ao lado do compatriota Nikola Cacic.
45 minutos depois de derrotar o italiano Marco Cecchinato, Kecmanovic e Cacic entraram no Court Cascais e ultrapassaram Gonzalo Escobar (Equador) e Fabien Reboul (Fran&ccedil;a), terceiros favoritos ao t&iacute;tulo, com recurso a match tie-break: parciais de 6-2, 1-6 e 10-3.
Na decis&atilde;o, o par s&eacute;rvio vai enfrentar a dupla belga composta por Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen, quartos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie que no embate inaugural do Estadio Millennium baterem os atuais campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral, interrompendo uma s&eacute;rie de seis triunfos seguidos dos portugueses no Millennium Estoril Open.
Miomir Kevcmanovic torna-se, deste modo, o primeiro tenista a disputar as finais das duas variantes nas oito edi&ccedil;&otilde;es do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal. E como as regras mandam que tem de jogar primeiro a decis&atilde;o de singulares, s&oacute; depois da conclus&atilde;o da mesma, em hora a anunciar e n&atilde;o &agrave;s 13 horas como estava inicialmente previsto, &eacute; que a final de pares encerrar&aacute; a prova no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
&nbsp;

Dobradinha de finais para Miomir Kecmanovic no Estoril

O n&uacute;mero cinco mundial Casper Ruud, primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie do Millennium Estoril, garantiu este s&aacute;bado a primeira final da temporada ap&oacute;s ultrapassar, num duelo de elevada qualidade, o franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys (80.&ordm; ATP) com os parciais de 6-4, 3-6 e 7-6(2).
Depois de um in&iacute;cio de &eacute;poca ainda sem triunfos consecutivos no mesmo torneio, o melhor noruegu&ecirc;s da hist&oacute;ria somou o terceiro seguido no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril frente ao tomba-gigantes desta oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do melhor torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s - Halys apresentou algum do melhor n&iacute;vel desta semana e derrotou Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista Agut e Dominic Thiem.
Num embate apenas com dois breaks e apenas cinco chances (o antigo n&uacute;mero dois mundial referiu mesmo que nunca conseguiu responder da melhor forma ao servi&ccedil;o do gaul&ecirc;s) foi com naturalidade que se chegou a um tie-break decisivo. A&iacute;, Ruud aproveitou a maior solidez para se impor, for&ccedil;ando Quentin Halys (na primeira meia-final no ATP Tour) a arriscar em demasia para ganhar pontos.
O contraste de estilos (o n&oacute;rdico &eacute; um especialista de terra batida, Halys serve como poucos - neste duelo fez 16 ases -&nbsp; e aposta em total agressividade e pontos curtos) tornou o confronto ainda mais aliciante e fez as del&iacute;cias do p&uacute;blico que encheu o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e assistiu a 2h11 de muito drama e grandes pontos.
Apurado para a primeira final de 2023 e primeira desde o ATP Finals no crep&uacute;sculo da temporada anterior, Casper Ruud vai disputar este domingo a 16.&ordf; decis&atilde;o no ATP Tour, 12.&ordf; em terra batida, e ter&aacute; ainda como pr&eacute;mio a subida ao quarto posto do ranking, superando Daniil Medvedev na hierarquia.
Para levantar os dois d&iacute;gitos de t&iacute;tulos, o tenista de 24 anos vai ter de superar o contempor&acirc;neo Miomir Kecmanovic (40.&ordm;). Ruud venceu o primeiro duelo profissional entre ambos, e &uacute;nico no p&oacute; de tijolo, no qualifying de Roma (2019), mas o s&eacute;rvio levou a melhor nos dois derradeiros em hard courts - Zhuai e Next Gen Finals de 2019.
A rivalidade entre estes dois bons amigos j&aacute; se estende, no entanto, aos tempos de juniores e curiosamente a&iacute; com resultados opostos: Ruud arrecadou dois em piso r&aacute;pido, Kecmanovic venceu o de terra batida.
O tira-teimas joga-se este domingo &agrave;s 15h30 e ser&aacute; uma primeira final entre ambos.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Casper Ruud garante primeira final do ano no Millennium Estoril Open

O s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic (n&uacute;mero 40 do ranking mundial) apurou-se, na tarde deste s&aacute;bado, para a final de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open.
Sexto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, o tenista de Belgrado celebrou a quarta vit&oacute;ria consecutiva em dois sets &mdash; e a segunda sem ceder um jogo de servi&ccedil;o &mdash; ao eliminar o italiano Marco Cecchinato (96.&ordm;), ex-semifinalista de Roland-Garros, pelos parciais de 6-3 e 6-1 em apenas 1h09.
Aos 23 anos, a final do Millennium Estoril Open ser&aacute; a quarta da carreira para Kecmanovic. O s&eacute;rvio j&aacute; discutiu um t&iacute;tulo este ano (foi vice-campe&atilde;o em Delray Beach, nos Estados Unidos da Am&eacute;rica) e tem um t&iacute;tulo no curr&iacute;culo, conquistado na terra batida de Kitzbuhel em 2020.
Para fazer a festa no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e tornar-se no oitavo campe&atilde;o &mdash; j&aacute; est&aacute; garantido que o torneio portugu&ecirc;s coroar&aacute; um vencedor in&eacute;dito &mdash; ter&aacute; de superar ou o primeiro favorito, Casper Ruud, ou o tomba-gigantes Quentin Halys, que este s&aacute;bado joga a meia-final mais importante da carreira.

Miomir Kecmanovic é o primeiro finalista

Os portugueses Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral perderam, este s&aacute;bado, nas meias-finais de pares do Millennium Estoril Open e falharam o apuramento para uma segunda final consecutiva no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril.
Com seis vit&oacute;rias nos seis primeiros encontros no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril (quatro em 2022, duas em 2023), o maiato e o portuense n&atilde;o resistiram aos belgas Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen, que triunfaram por 7-6(4) e 7-6(4) ao cabo de 1h48.
Na final, marcada para domingo, Gille e Vliegen v&atilde;o enfrentar os vencedores do encontro entre Gonzalo Escobar/Fabien Reboul e Nikola Cacic/Miomir Kecmanovic.

Campeões em título Borges e Cabral falham acesso a nova final

Miomir Kecmanović outclassed Marco Cecchinato with a near-perfect 6:3 6:1 performance in the first semi-final of the 2023 Millennium Estoril Open.
After yesterday&rsquo;s match, Kecmanović commented on his level saying he&rsquo;s &ldquo;on fire.&rdquo; Asked about his form today, the Serb quipped: &ldquo;Today, I'm blazing.&rdquo;
Dropping just one game on serve and 17 games total over the week, Kecmanović booked his fourth ATP Tour final &ndash; first on clay since the 2020 Generali Open in Kitzb&uuml;hel.
&ldquo;It feels pretty good,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;The way I've been playing, I haven't played like this in a while. I'm pretty happy about it. Hopefully, I have one more in me.&rdquo;
Cecchinato entered the match in fine form, posting a 4-1 record versus players inside the top-50 in his last five matches. Earlier in the week, he defeated world No 36 Diego Schwartzman in the first round of the tournament, and in yesterday&rsquo;s quarter-final match, world No 24 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Over the course of the tournament, the Italian moved up to number 80 in the live rankings &ndash; still some way from his best of world No 16 &ndash; but nevertheless a progress of 16 places. Cecchinato, a clay court specialist, owns a 10-6 main draw record at Roland Garros, but 0-14 at the other three Slams combined.
This was the pair&rsquo;s second encounter on the Tour &ndash; they have previously met at the 2022 Chile Open in Santiago where the Serb won 7:5 6:1.
Cecchinato, who elected to serve first, began with a 15 hold. He came close to forcing a breakpoint in the second game, but after a long baseline rally with the Serb, he hit an inside-in forehand marginally wide. Cecchinato held his next game to love, but then so did Kecmanović.
With Cecchinato serving at 2:2 and deuce, Kecmanović fired an exquisite backhand down the line, giving himself a breakpoint. The pair engaged in a long backhand crosscourt rally, the Serb getting his break when Cecchinato mistimed a backhand that ended up wide.
Cecchinato&rsquo;s holds became ever more difficult. Serving at 2:4, he missed a number of dropshots, and a forehand that flew long. He tossed his racquet to the ground in anger, but managed to serve out the game when Kecmanović missed a backhand return by inches.
Following another love hold, Kecmanović broke Cecchinato again at the third asking, pushing the Italian wide with a forehand and following with another in the same spot, thus winning the set 6:3.
At the start of the second set, Kecmanović held to love again. At 1:0 with the Italian serving, the pair engaged in a long backhand rally, loading their shots with topspin. Cecchinato pounced on a short ball and played a finishing forehand to Kecmanović&rsquo;s backhand, but the Serb managed to stick his racquet out playing a tricky passing shot and breaking again.
The onslaught continued. Kecmanović, serving yet another love hold, gave up just two points in his last five service games up to that point. He broke the Italian once more at 4:1, and staving off a late challenge from the Italian, who threatened two breakpoints, served out the set for a 6:1 victory.
&ldquo;I've been lucky that I've been winning these matches fairly quickly, that I wasn't wasting too much time on court,&rdquo; Kecmanović said after the match. &ldquo;I'm pretty happy about that, especially since [it is] the first week of clay. Hopefully, things go better from here.
&ldquo;A lot of things that I worked on [in] the last few years are starting to come together. When things go like this, you start playing your best tennis.&ldquo;
Kecmanović reserves a place in tomorrow&rsquo;s final&nbsp; &ndash; his second of the season after losing the Delray Beach Open to Taylor Fritz &ndash; where he will await the winner of Casper Ruud versus Quentin Halys.
Home-favourites Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral ended their Millennium Estoril Open doubles title defence with a tight 6:7(4) 6:7(4) loss to Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
The Portuguese pair leave the tournament with their heads held high after a historic run. Borges and Cabral came close to turning the encounter around, but it was the Belgians who impressed in the decisive moments.
&nbsp;&ldquo;I think it's clear in everyone's eyes [that] it wasn't our best day,&rdquo; said the pair after the loss. &ldquo;[It was] Also a little [through] their merits. They served quite well, with precision, varied the speed and made it a little uncomfortable [for us].
&ldquo;In the second set tiebreak, it may seem like bad luck, but I think it was also the weight of the whole match and [the fact that] they were always on top, always closer than us.&rdquo;
Making their return to the Estadio Millennium, the Portuguese started the match by saving a breakpoint in the first game.
At 30:15 in the sixth game, Gille shanked a backhand which sailed high. Next, his partner, trying to play an overhead smash, misjudged the ball and caught it with the racquet&rsquo;s frame. Borges and Cabral, with two chances to break, couldn&rsquo;t capitalise on the opportunity, each hitting a forehand in the net.
At 4:4 and 15:15, Cabral played a volley but mistimed it marginally, the ball hitting the frame of his racquet. It pinged high, disorienting Cabral who lost track of it, and when it landed on the Belgians&rsquo;s side, a wicked spin took it out of Gille's reach.
Neither pair able to break ahead, the match went into a tiebreak.
Borges started with an unreturned serve. Gille, serving next, paid back in kind, then served again, allowing Vliegen to put away Borges&rsquo;s return. With the Portuguese on serve at 2:2 in the breaker, the players went volley to volley, the point ending with Borges playing a backhand long. Borges/Cabral recovered the minibreak immediately when Gille shanked a shot that flew high into the sky.
The pivotal point in the tiebreak took place at 3:4. Vliegen cleverly moved across the net intercepting a shot from Borges with a put-away volley, earning the Belgians a minibreak. Serving at 6:4, Gille finished the tiebreak with a blistering forehand winner, slicing through the space between Cabral and Borges, neither player moving towards the ball.
In the second set, Gille and Vliegen began with a hold, then threatened to break with two breakpoints at 2:1. They did so again, with a breakpoint at 4:3, but the Portuguese held once more.
Receiving at 15:15, Borges played a groundstroke through the middle and Cabral followed up with a deftly executed volley. He celebrated and raised up both arms in the air, urging the Portuguese public to give them one more push. The fans obliged, but despite taking the set to another tiebreak, Borges and Cabral were not able to level the match, losing the second tiebreak 4:7.
Asked about the pressure coming with a title defence, Borges and Cabral said: &ldquo;Honestly, I didn't think we gave in that much [to the] pressure. We came excited to play again, and to win matches. I don&rsquo;t think we got on worse or better because of it.&rdquo;
&ldquo;At this level all games are super demanding and as we saw here all teams want to win,&rdquo; they added. &ldquo;Everyone knows everyone, everyone knows the weaknesses, the strengths, so you have to be two-hundred percent mentally and physically.&rdquo;
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen move to the final of the Millennium Estoril Open doubles where they will contest the winner of Escobar/Reboul vs Cacic/Kecmanović for the trophy.

BLAZING KECMANOVIC AND PORTUGUESE HEARTBREAK

2023 | Dia 8 - FLY BETTER MOMENTS - At Millennium Estoril Open (PT)

2023 | Day 8 - FLY BETTER MOMENTS - At Millennium Estoril Open (ENG)

2023 | DIA 8 - HOTSHOT 3 Q. Halys (vs. C. Ruud) - At Millennium Estoril Open

2023 | DAY 8 - HOTSHOT 3 Q. Halys (vs. C. Ruud) - At Millennium Estoril Open

Chegamos ao pen&uacute;ltimo dia da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open e n&atilde;o faltam hist&oacute;rias para contar. Da poss&iacute;vel continua&ccedil;&atilde;o da caminhada para uma dobradinha hist&oacute;rica nos pares, ao ressurgimento de uma das estrelas do circuito, o s&aacute;bado com luz ao fundo do t&uacute;nel tem igualmente no centro do palco um s&aacute;bio do p&oacute; de tijolo, um antigo n&uacute;mero um mundial em afirma&ccedil;&atilde;o entre os gra&uacute;dos e um estreante no pa&iacute;s das maravilhas.
Cerca de um ano ap&oacute;s o brilharete hist&oacute;rico, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral voltaram a reunir-se com bastante sucesso. Aos quatro triunfos de 2022, somam-se os dois nos &uacute;ltimos dias, mas o grande objetivo &eacute; o m&aacute;gico oito. Mas como o foco &eacute; jogo a jogo, discurso-folheto da maioria dos protagonistas, em primeiro lugar h&aacute; que ultrapassar uma dupla belga pr&eacute;-designada composta por Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen.
Um eventual d&eacute;j&agrave; v&uacute; colocaria os amigos-de-sempre-e-parceiros-quando-&eacute;-poss&iacute;vel em &oacute;rbita ol&iacute;mpica. Se o t&iacute;tulo h&aacute; 342 dias foi in&eacute;dito do Millennium Estoril Open para uma dupla nacional, com nova gl&oacute;ria entravam num pedestal nunca antes visto em Portugal.
Se o prato forte n&atilde;o vem para o fim, mas para abertura da jornada &ndash; perdoem-nos o patriotismo, mas estamos certos que compreender&atilde;o -, a restante jornada n&atilde;o fica nada atr&aacute;s em aten&ccedil;&atilde;o medi&aacute;tica. O maior chamariz &eacute;, sem d&uacute;vida, Casper Ruud. Duas vezes finalistas de torneios do Grand Slam, o atual n&uacute;mero cinco mundial procura juntar o Millennium Estori Open &agrave; j&aacute; extensa cole&ccedil;&atilde;o de nove t&iacute;tulos da categoria 250.
E como a maior prova de t&eacute;nis em Portugal &ldquo;est&aacute; a tornar-se num dos torneios preferidos&rdquo; do melhor tenista noruegu&ecirc;s de sempre, numa semana na qual somou pela primeira vez dois sucessos consecutivos, e um dia ap&oacute;s ter rubricado a &ldquo;melhor exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o da temporada&rdquo;, Ruud quer continuar o in&iacute;cio perfeito da sua parte favorita da &eacute;poca e ultrapassar o tomba-gigantes desta edi&ccedil;&atilde;o, num contraste curricular absoluto.
Quentin Halys j&aacute; derrotou Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista Agut (quarto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie) e Dominic Thiem (campe&atilde;o do Us Open de 2020 e antigo n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s ATP) e est&aacute; num aut&ecirc;ntico conto de fadas. Depois de brilhar no circuito secund&aacute;rio, o franc&ecirc;s est&aacute; em estreia em meias-finais no ATP Tour e a jogar t&eacute;nis de encher o olho, em especial na pancada de servi&ccedil;o.
Antes disso lutar&atilde;o pelo acesso ao derradeiro dia Marco Cecchinato e Miomir Kecmanovic. E se o italiano vem de bater tr&ecirc;s pesos pesados como Diego Schwartzman, Fabio Fognini e Alejandro Davidovich Fokina e j&aacute; atingiu o top 20 mundial e uma semifinal no maior torneio de terra batida do mundo, al&eacute;m dos tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos na superf&iacute;cie em cinco finais, o s&eacute;rvio diz que prefere hard courts, j&aacute; disputou decis&otilde;es em todos os pisos, mas o certo &eacute; que em tr&ecirc;s &lsquo;game, set and match&rsquo; s&oacute; dispensou 13 jogos aos opositores.
Ready? Vamos a mais um dia de emo&ccedil;&otilde;es fortes e bons motivos para perdurar no imagin&aacute;rio de todos os presentes.

O olimpo, a ressurreição e as estrelas cadentes

Casper Ruud, principal favorito ao t&iacute;tulo do Millennium Estoril Open, carimbou a &uacute;ltima vaga para as meias-finais depois de bater Sebastian Baez, campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo, com os parciais contundentes de 6-3 e 6-0.
Na melhor exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o da temporda (assumido pelo pr&oacute;prio em declara&ccedil;&otilde;es no final do encontro), Casper Ruud finalmente venceu dois compromissos no mesmo torneio em 2023 e ultrapassou um break sofrido logo na inf&acirc;ncia do embate para se impor perante um tenista com caracter&iacute;sitcas semelhantes (forte direita para controlar os pontos e tamb&eacute;m um especialista no p&oacute; de tijolo) e arrecadar os derradeiros nove jogos.
Mesmo em sess&atilde;o noturna, o melhor tenista noruegu&ecirc;s de sempre foi capaz de imprimir elevado top spin na direita e teve o cond&atilde;o de jogar melhor os pontos importantes - isto porque apesar da expressividade do resultado houve v&aacute;rios jogos resolvidos nas vantagens e Ruud salvou seis de sete chances de break do n&uacute;mero um argentino (32.&ordm; ATP e quinto pr&eacute;-designado).
O atual n&uacute;mero cinco do ranking (antigo dois e duas vezes finalista de provas do Grand Slam) est&aacute; assim pela primeira vez nas meias-finais de um torneio desde o ATP Finals, &uacute;ltimo torneio de 2022 - e se formos a competi&ccedil;&otilde;es regulares temos de recuar &agrave; final do Us Open para descobrir uma semifinal para o n&oacute;rdico.
Depois de derrotar dois antigos campe&otilde;es no Estoril (na segunda ronda tinha ultrapasso Jo&atilde;o Sousa), no duelo de acesso &agrave; final Ruud vai encarar a sensa&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova at&eacute; ao momento, o franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys, carrasco de Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista e Dominic Thiem.
&nbsp;

Primeiro cabeça de série faz melhor exibição do ano e derrota campeão em título

O franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys voltou a vencer e na tarde desta sexta-feira carimbou o apuramento para as meias-finais de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open, que ser&atilde;o as primeiras da carreira no circuito ATP.
Depois de afastar o portugu&ecirc;s Nuno Borges e o espanhol Roberto Bautista Agut, o n&uacute;mero 80 mundial voltou a exibir-se a um grande n&iacute;vel e afastou o austr&iacute;aco Dominic Thiem (atual 111.&ordm; e ex-n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s) em duas partidas, por claros 6-1 e 6-4.
Com esta vit&oacute;ria, a terceira da semana no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, Quentin Halys apurou-se pela primeira vez na carreira para umas meias-finais no circuito principal.
O pr&oacute;ximo advers&aacute;rio do jogador gaul&ecirc;s sair&aacute; do derradeiro duelo da sess&atilde;o noturna desta sexta-feira, que colocar&aacute; frente a frente o noruegu&ecirc;s Casper Ruud &mdash; primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie &mdash; e o argentino Sebastian Baez, campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo.

Halys afasta Thiem e estreia-se em meias-finais ATP

O s&eacute;rvio Miormir Kecmanovic (40.&ordm; ATP) est&aacute; nas meias-finais do Millennium Estoril Open. Nesta sexta-feira venceu novamente de forma autorit&aacute;ria, batendo o espanhol Bernabe Zapata Miralles (43.&ordm;) por 7-5 e 6-2.
Antigo n&uacute;mero um mundial de juniores e campe&atilde;o ATP em Kitzbuhel em 2020 (chegou ainda a mais duas finais, sempre em pisos distintos), Miomir Kecmanovic chega &agrave;s meias-finais somente com 13 jogos cedidos - nas rondas anteriores tinha perdido apenas seis.
O antigo 27.&ordm; ATP nem sequer um break point enfrentou neste embate dos quartos de final - ali&aacute;s, o tenista de Belgrado s&oacute; cedeu o servi&ccedil;o uma vez em tr&ecirc;s triunfos e s&oacute; precisou de discutir oito pontos de break no seu 'saque'.
Apurado para a 10.&ordf; meia-final da carreira a este n&iacute;vel (e segunda da temporada ap&oacute;s a final de Delray Beach, em Fevereiro), Kecmanovic vai discutir um lugar na grande final frente ao ardiloso italiano Marco Cecchinato, antigo top 20 e semifinalista de Roland-Garros.
O tenista s&eacute;rvio venceu o &uacute;nico confronto entre ambos, tamb&eacute;m em terra batida, mas em Santiago, na &eacute;poca passada, por 7-5 e 6-1.

Miomir Kecmanovic segue imparável rumo às meias-finais no Estoril

Os portugueses&nbsp;Nuno Borges e&nbsp;Francisco Cabral apuraram-se, esta sexta-feira, para as meias-finais de pares do Millennium Estoril Open, onde perseguem a revalida&ccedil;&atilde;o do t&iacute;tulo.
Novamente no Court Cascais, os dois tenistas portugueses que h&aacute; um ano fizeram hist&oacute;ria no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril assinaram uma vit&oacute;ria muito semelhante &agrave; do encontro de estreia: 6-3 e 7-6(4) foram os parciais que lhes permitiram afastar o neerland&ecirc;s Robin Haase e o austr&iacute;aco Philipp Oswald, que tinham eliminado os primeiros cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie.
J&aacute; com seis triunfos consecutivos no Millennium Estoril Open, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral v&atilde;o lutar pela segunda presen&ccedil;a consecutiva na final contra Sander Gille e Joran Vliegen. Os belgas, quartos favoritos, beneficiaram da falta de compar&ecirc;ncia de Radu Albot e Victor Vlad Cornea.
Na outra metade do quadro, a meia-final ser&aacute; discutida entre Gonzalo Esbocar/Fabien Reboul e Nikola Cacic/Miomir Kecmanovic.

Campeões Borges e Cabral regressam às meias-finais

Praticamente dois anos depois, Marco Cecchinato est&aacute; de regresso a umas meias-finais no ATP Tour. Num duelo empolgante face ao espanhol Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, terceiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e 24.&ordm; do ranking, o italiano (96.&ordm;) triunfou por 7-5 e 7-6(5).
No encontro que abriu os quartos de final da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, num Est&aacute;dio Millennim repleto, Marco Cecchinato e Alejandro Davidovich Fokina protagonizaram um dos bons embates deste torneio. Muitos foram os pontos de cortar a respira&ccedil;&atilde;o neste que foi o primeiro compromisso deste duelo de gera&ccedil;&otilde;es (o transalpino tem 30 anos, o tenista do pa&iacute;s vizinho 23).
Marco Cecchinato fez, provavelmente, o melhor encontro da temporada e esteve irrepreens&iacute;vel no servi&ccedil;o (como prepara&ccedil;&atilde;o dos pontos, sobretudo, devido ao forte kick), arma que possibilitou apenas enfrentar dois break points: foi o primeiro a enfrrentar um, no quinto jogo, e a servir para a vit&oacute;ria, a 5-3 do segundo parcial, foi quebrado, numa altura em que o jogador de M&aacute;laga elevou imenso o n&iacute;vel de jogo.
No tie-break, o campe&atilde;o do Challenger do CIF da temporada passada (este foi o oitavo triunfo seguido em Portugal)&nbsp;esteve a perder com 5-4 (mini-break a favor do espanhol), mas arrecadou os derradeiro tr&ecirc;s pontos.
Frente a um dos melhores jogadores do circuito (e depois de duas boas vit&oacute;rias face aos antigos top 10 Diego Schwartzman e Fabio Fognini), Cecchinato mostrou porque j&aacute; foi semifinalista de Roland-Garros (2018) e campe&atilde;o de tr&ecirc;s torneios ATP, garantindo a primeira vaga nas meias-finais no Estoril.
Face a Miomir Kecmanovic (sexto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie) ou Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Marco Cecchinato jogar&aacute; n&atilde;o s&oacute; a primeira meia-final da temporada como a primeira no ATP Tour desde que atingiu a quinta e &uacute;ltima final da carreira a este n&iacute;vel, em Maio de 2021, em Parma. Na altura cedeu na decis&atilde;o para Sebastian Korda.

Marco Cecchinato é o primeiro semifinalista do Millennium Estoril Open

Marco Cecchinato dispelled the disappointment of losing a match point in the second set to defeat seed No 3 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7:5 7:6(5).
&ldquo;It was tough thinking positively because after the loss of a match point, all [you see is] black,&rdquo; he said about the moment.
The Italian, who faced just two breakpoints during the match, moves on to his first ATP Tour semi-final since losing to Sebastian Korda in the final of the 2021 Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma.
&ldquo;I'm very happy because I played a very good match, at a good level,&rdquo; said Cecchinato after the win. &ldquo;Alejandro is one of the best players here in this tournament, and in the world. [But] I played one of my best matches in this tournament. I&rsquo;m feeling better on court and also in myself. I'm really happy advancing to the semi-final.
On Wednesday, Davidovich Fokina stopped a spirited charge from Luca Van Assche, a Belgian-born prodigy playing under the French flag. Davidovich Fokina won in straight sets, snapping Van Assche&rsquo;s winning streak of 11 matches.
The Spaniard was aiming to break a 6-match losing streak in Tour-level quarter-finals since reaching the 2022 ATP Masters Monte-Carlo final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, but despite a late comeback, he ultimately came up short against a revitalised opponent.
From the start, little separated the pair as they went shot for shot and contested the first 11 games on an equal footing &ndash; Cecchinato having to save a single breakpoint to Davidovich Fokina&rsquo;s three.
But serving at 5:6, the Spaniard played a forehand long, then a ground stroke that sailed marginally wide. He double faulted on the next point and, after recovering two points in the game, he put a forehand in the net following Cecchinato&rsquo;s brilliant scramble to reach a wide ball that pushed him beyond the tramlines.
With the first set firmly in hand, Cecchinato followed it up by pushing Davidovich Fokina to three more breakpoints in the first game of the second set. However, Fokina&rsquo;s fine-margin serving bailed him out. The Italian, twice inspecting the line for a mark, gave up the game when, pushed out of position with a clever backhand down the line, he found himself out of reach of the dropshot that followed.
Cecchinato extended the lead, breaking Davidovich Fokina at 3:2, but serving at 5:4, he couldn&rsquo;t convert the match point, and the Spaniard drew level. Resurgent, Davidovich Fokina held in the following game, and as the match clock moved past the two-hour mark, the pair entered the tiebreak. Cecchinato, despite an early setback in the decider, recovered swiftly and sealed the tiebreak to 5.
In the next round, Marco Cecchinato will meet Miomir Kecmanović, who continues his 2023 Millennium Estoril Open campaign with today&rsquo;s 7:5 6:2 win over Bernabe Zapata Miralles in 1h 26m.
Kecmanović, who yesterday made quick work of his second round opponent, Jurij Rodionov, winning the match 6:0 6:1 in a little over an hour, returned to the court to book his 10th ATP Tour semi-final &ndash; his first on clay since the 2022 BMW Open in Munich where he lost to Botic van de Zandschulp.
&ldquo;I'm on fire right now,&rdquo;&nbsp; Kecmanović said playfully after today&rsquo;s win. &ldquo;I think I played pretty well today, even better than yesterday. So hopefully, two more, I can keep it up.
&ldquo;I've been working a lot [in practice]. I'm happy that it's finally working,&rdquo; he added.
Asked about the semi-final clash versus the Italian, Kecmanović offered: &ldquo;It's not going to be easy. Everything he did [achieved] was on clay. So it's definitely going to be a tough one. But if I play like today, I have a good shot.&rdquo;
Also yesterday, Bernabe Zapata Miralles scored the biggest win of his career, defeating seed No 2 Hubert Hurkacz in three sets. He was aiming to tie last season&rsquo;s personal-best of 10 Tour-level wins in a single season, and to reach the third ATP Tour semi-final, having done so twice this year, in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, in February.
As the first set began, neither player could establish an advantage, with multiple straightforward holds from both.
At 5:5, Zapata Miralles established a 40:15 lead, but pushed back by Kecmanović&rsquo;s deep groundstrokes, he played several forehands long, and at deuce, he was caught off guard by the Serb&rsquo;s brilliant forehand cross court return. Serving to save a breakpoint, nerves got the better of him and the Spaniard put a backhand in the net, granting Kecmanović the first break of the match.
Leading 6:5 in the first set, Kecmanović held without trouble.
At 1:1 in the second set, Kecmanović struck again, breaking Zapata Miralles for an early lead. He followed with a love hold at 3:2, and then broke his opponent again when the Spaniard mistimed a forehand down the line.
Kecmanović ended the match with a dominant hold, and moves to the next round of the tournament where he will face Marco Cecchinato.

KECMANOVIĆ AND CECCHINATO THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINAL

Quentin Halys moves to his first ever ATP Tour semi-final with a dominant 6:1 6:4 victory over Dominic Thiem.
Despite recording his first back-to-back victories in 2023, in the first and second round of the tournament, today Thiem was far from his best, and couldn&rsquo;t find a way past the high-flying Frenchman.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm pretty happy about the way my tennis is going,&rdquo; said jubilant Halys after the match. &ldquo;It's getting better and better. It's a special day for me [making first semi-final], and I'm feeling I can still improve tomorrow and do better stuff. It's good, but it's not over yet.&rdquo;
Halys&rsquo;s performance was all the more impressive given the fact that this was only his third clay court win at the Tour-level, compared to his opponent&rsquo;s 156.
&ldquo;Dominic didn't maybe play very well today, but I'm still really happy about the way I was playing,&rdquo; Halys added. &ldquo;I was very aggressive. It was not my best day on serve, but still I managed to win some pretty easy games. I was trying to go to the net as much as possible, to step into the court.&rdquo;
Despite his post-match assessment, Halys came into the match with a clean hold, and continued from there. With four aces to one double fault, the Frenchman overpowered Thiem, breaking at 2:1 and 4:1 for a 6:1 score in the first set.
In the second set, Thiem tried to get back into the match. Although he was winning his service games, they proved much more challenging than Halys&rsquo;s.
At 2:2, The Frenchman struck again. At 15:30 in the game with Thiem serving, the Austrian approached the net for a finishing forehand after a weak return, but put it in the net. Staring down two breakpoints, Thiem rushed the net again, but misjudged a volley putting it wide. Halys then held to love, widening the gap to two games.
At 3:5, Thiem won a rare love hold, his first of the match, but in the end couldn&rsquo;t stop the Frenchman from closing out the match.
&ldquo;I dropped my level a little bit from yesterday. From my side, everything was just a little bit worse than yesterday,&rdquo; said Thiem after the loss.
&ldquo;In general, I'm still a bit too inconsistent. Serve was terrible today,&rdquo; he assessed his game. &ldquo;If I start the set at 1:2, 30:15, with one bad point and two double faults, get broken early against a guy who is serving that well &ndash; it's something that is not allowed to happen, but is still happening now.&rdquo;
Despite the loss, Thiem was able to find positives in his performances over the past week.
&ldquo;In general, it was a good week. Of course, I lost 1 [and] 4 today, which is not great, especially on clay,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I have to [continue to] work. At least I know why I lost that easily. And it's time to move on and do better in Monte Carlo.&rdquo;
In tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-final, Quentin Halys will face Casper Ruud in the biggest challenge of his career yet.
Ruud lived up to his status as the tournament top seed and world No 5 by moving past the defending champion Sebasti&aacute;n B&aacute;ez with a 6:3 6:0 victory.
&ldquo;I was prepared for a very tough match, and I think it was, even though 6:3 6:0 doesn't sound like a tough match, but it was,&rdquo; Ruud said after the win. &ldquo;There were some tough games, tough rallies. Fortunately for me, they all went in my favour.&rdquo;
In a high-octane encounter, the pair served up a thriller, but it was Ruud who came out on top in all the decisive moments.
&ldquo;A little bit of a shaky start, but luckily I got the break back right away, and in all the really close games, I was able to win them,&rdquo; Ruud added. &ldquo;That's sometimes how it goes in tennis. It's small margins in this sport. When you have them on your side [you win].&rdquo;
Ruud entered the match looking to improve on this season&rsquo;s 1-3 record versus players ranked inside the top-50. He was seeking his first ATP Tour semi-final since losing to Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2022 ATP Finals.
B&aacute;ez, going into the encounter on a Millennium Estoril Open seven match winning streak, was hoping for the biggest win of his career &ndash; the Argentine has never won a Tour match against a player ranked inside the top-5.
From the very start both players, entrenched deep behind their baselines, rallied with intensity, moving each other around the court with high-powered shots.
B&aacute;ez attacked first, breaking Ruud in the first set. The Norwegian recovered quickly and raced to a 40:0 advantage, threatening Baez with three breakpoints. Baez pulled the score back to level, but couldn&rsquo;t save the fourth one.
After the early scare, Ruud found his feet. He started winning more of the pivotal points, edging the Argentine with small margins.
Serving at 4:3, B&aacute;ez double faulted, then missed a forehand finish that sailed high into the crowd. At 30:30, B&aacute;ez, again at the net, was unable to intercept a passing shot. Facing the fifth breakpoint of the match at 30:40, B&aacute;ez&rsquo;s nerves failed as he hit another double fault.
Despite bringing the score to 30:30 in the next game, the Argentine&rsquo;s hopes were soon dashed. Ruud was the better player in the next two rallies, closing out the set with a 6:3 win.
The Norwegian, now firmly in control of the match, pushed Baez beyond his limits. Not allowing the Argentine much breathing space, Ruud blasted his way through the set. He broke in the first game at the third asking, then saved four breakpoints in a long, 17-point game which he eventually held. He broke again at 2:0 and 4:0, serving out the match with a &ldquo;bagel&rdquo;.
&ldquo;It's not very often that you win a 6:0 set on the ATP tour,&rdquo; summarised Ruud after the match. &ldquo;So if you can, it's a good feeling. But, at the same time, you just have to try to keep your feet down, and don't get too excited.&rdquo;
In the doubles draw, Portugal&rsquo;s Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral returned to the Millennium Estoril Open semi-finals with a 6:3 7:6(4) victory over Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald.
&nbsp;&ldquo;We can win them all, I fully believe that,&rdquo; said the defending champions after the match. &ldquo;But I also believe that on a less good day, we can lose to any of the other teams in the competition.&rdquo;
If the pair&rsquo;s run is to stop anytime soon, it wasn&rsquo;t today. The Portuguese had to fight back from a break down in the second set, but managed to come out on top. Having won the previous edition of the tournament&rsquo;s doubles, they extend their Millennium Estoril Open winning streak to six matches, and will meet the Belgian duo, Sander Gill&eacute; and Joran Vliegen, in tomorrow&rsquo;s semi-final.
Speaking of the opponents, they added: &ldquo;If it's not the first, it will be one of the first times that we're in the same tournament [as them], and I've never seen them play, nor have I ever trained with them, so I'm a little out of touch with what our opponents are.
&ldquo;The only thing we can guarantee is that, just like today, and just like on Wednesday, we're going to give everything we've got,&rdquo; Cabral concluded. &ldquo;And if we don't win, it's because the others are better.&rdquo;
<a href="https://www.millenniumestorilopen.com/news/6430499c0a1dab001db93040">Earlier in the day</a>, Marco Cecchinato overcame Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7:5 7:6(5), and Miomir Kecmanović defeated Bernabe Zapata Miralles 7:5 6:2.

ONE STEP CLOSER

Entre o dia e a noite e novamente com casa cheia. Assim ser&atilde;o conhecidos os semifinalistas da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, que esta sexta-feira volta a contar com casa cheia para duas sess&otilde;es de gabarito no Est&aacute;dio Millennium com um elenco muito interessante &mdash; e ainda o regresso dos campe&otilde;es de pares ao Court Cascais.
Logo a abrir o dia medem for&ccedil;as dois jogadores que j&aacute; brilharam em Portugal, mas em dimens&otilde;es diferentes: embalado pela vit&oacute;ria sobre o compatriota Fabio Fognini, o italiano Marco Cecchinato (campe&atilde;o de um Challenger no CIF no &uacute;ltimo ano) ter&aacute; a &aacute;rdua tarefa de superar Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, espanhol que no Estoril est&aacute; mais habituado a jogar de noite do que durante o dia, mas que, precisamente em condi&ccedil;&otilde;es semelhantes, brilhou rumo &agrave; final do ATP Masters 1000 de Monte-Carlo na temporada transata.
Depois do choque entre a esquerda a uma m&atilde;o do transalpino e o t&eacute;nis de combate do jogador do pa&iacute;s vizinho, a segunda vaga nas meias-finais ser&aacute; discutida entre Miomir Kecmanovic e Bernabe Zapata Miralles. O s&eacute;rvio carrega h&aacute; v&aacute;rios anos o peso das expetativas que surgem em torno dos sucessores de Novak Djokovic e apesar de resultados mais t&iacute;midos na terra batida (foi, no entanto, nesta superf&iacute;cie que conquistou o seu &uacute;nico t&iacute;tulo ATP, h&aacute; tr&ecirc;s anos, em Kitzbuhel) j&aacute; demonstrou ter qualidade para a ocasi&atilde;o. E o espanhol, que na estreia afastou a sensa&ccedil;&atilde;o Henrique Rocha, brilhou na sess&atilde;o noturna de quarta-feira ao eliminar o segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie, Hubert Hurkacz, para celebrar a melhor vit&oacute;ria da carreira.
J&aacute; ao fim da tarde, o austr&iacute;aco Dominic Thiem tentar&aacute; prolongar a boa semana na condi&ccedil;&atilde;o de favorito contra Quentin Halys. O austr&iacute;aco ainda n&atilde;o tinha ganho dois encontros no mesmo torneio esta &eacute;poca e est&aacute; a aproveitar a semana no Millennium Estoril Open para recuperar a confian&ccedil;a e o n&iacute;vel que fizeram dele um dos melhores tenistas da &uacute;ltima d&eacute;cada, sendo um dos maiores candidatos ao t&iacute;tulo se mantiver o crescendo das exibi&ccedil;&otilde;es anteriores. Quanto ao franc&ecirc;s, tem dado sequ&ecirc;ncia &agrave; grande &eacute;poca de 2022 no circuito secund&aacute;rio (43 vit&oacute;rias e tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos) e est&aacute; pela terceira vez nos quartos de final de um torneio ATP, todas este ano. Agora na terra batida, f&ecirc;-lo com distin&ccedil;&atilde;o ao afastar Nuno Borges e Roberto Bautista Agut, resultados que falam por si.
O derradeiro encontro da jornada ser&aacute; um choque entre dois jogadores que elegem a terra batida como superf&iacute;cie predileta. De um lado Casper Ruud, o cabe&ccedil;a de cartaz do torneio e n&uacute;mero cinco mundial, que afastou Jo&atilde;o Sousa na estreia, e do outro Sebastian Baez, o campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo que aos cinco triunfos de 2022 j&aacute; adicionou duas vit&oacute;rias nesta edi&ccedil;&atilde;o. O vencedor completar&aacute; o quarteto de semifinalistas que, em caso de vit&oacute;ria do noruegu&ecirc;s, ser&aacute; exclusivamente composto por europeus (&agrave; semelhan&ccedil;a do que aconteceu em 2021).
Entre as duas sess&otilde;es no Est&aacute;dio Millennium haver&aacute; novamente &ldquo;festa&rdquo; no Court Cascais, o palco onde os campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral, lutar&atilde;o pela segunda vit&oacute;ria nesta semana e respetivo apuramento para mais umas meias-finais de pares. O maiato e o portuense s&atilde;o os derradeiros representantes lusos e t&ecirc;m como obst&aacute;culos o neerland&ecirc;s Robin Haase e o austr&iacute;aco Philipp Oswald.

À procura de um quarteto

Bernabe Zapata Miralles scored the biggest win of his career as he defeated seed No 2 Hubert Hurkacz in a thrilling 6:7(7) 6:4 6:2 victory.
&ldquo;I'm very happy,&rdquo; said Zapata Miralles after the match. &ldquo;Especially because I haven't given up after a tough first set. Beating Hubi is a very good victory.&rdquo;
Zapata Miralles, who is currently ranked 43 in the world, extends his head-to-head record over the Pole to 2:0, having previously defeated Hurkacz in the fourth round of the 2015 European Junior Championships.
Despite making progress on clay &ndash; in 2022, Hurkacz reached, for the first time, the fourth round of the French Open, as well as quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo and Madrid Masters &ndash; the Pole is still searching for his first title on the surface.
In the pair&rsquo;s second encounter, both players began by holding their serves. Rallying from behind the baseline, neither was able to establish an advantage.
At 2:3, Hurkacz saved a breakpoint. Receiving at 3:3, he forced a wide forehand from Zapata Miralles. Then, pushed into the tramlines, the Spaniard missed a backhand. Next, Hurkacz attacked Zapata Miralles&rsquo;s serve with a fierce return and drew another error from his opponent. However, facing three breakpoints, the Spaniard didn&rsquo;t flinch.
He won the next point with an unreturned serve. Following that, the pair contested a long rally, Zapata Miralles targeting Hurkacz&rsquo;s backhand twice, and wrong-footing him on the third attempt. Three serves later, the Spaniard was out of the woods.
With little between them, the pair arrived at a tiebreak. After a number of long rallies, Hurkacz raced to a 4:0 lead, drawing errors from Zapata Miralles with deep groundstrokes. The Spaniard raised his game. He recovered, and for a moment pulled in front with a set point at 7:6, but in the end, the Pole took the first set in the decider with a 9:7 score.
In the second set, Zapata Miralles broke Hurkacz at 1:1, but fell behind 0:40 in the subsequent game allowing his opponent to level the set. At 3:3, the Spaniard scored a decisive break, and went on to serve out the set with a 6:4 score.
Early in the third set, Zapata Miralles broke again &ndash; with Hurkacz, at one point, misjudging the Spaniard&rsquo;s shot, and choosing not to volley a ball that just-about caught the baseline.
At 2:1, the pair contested a brutal 23-point game which proved pivotal. Zapata Miralles fended off four breakpoints and held, breaking the Pole again in the following game. Staring down a 1:5 score, Hurkacz won one more game but, unable to alter his fate, he lost the final set 6:2.
&ldquo;This was my first match on clay, so it's always tricky to try to find yourself, and figure out how to play on the surface,&rdquo; assessed Hurkacz after the loss. &ldquo;I just wasn't good enough today. I was missing a lot of balls that normally I think I would make. But Bernabe played really solid.&rdquo;
With the win, Bernabe Zapata Miralles booked a place in the quarter-finals where he will next meet Miomir Kecmanović.
&ldquo;He is playing at a very good level, it is going to be a very tough match,&rdquo; Zapata Miralles added, speaking about his next round opponent. &ldquo;I'm going to have to play at a very high level to have my chances tomorrow.&rdquo;
In the final match of the day, Quentin Halys saw off seed No 4 Roberto Bautista Agut in a tight 7:6(5) 7:5 victory. Both players contested at a high level, but the fine margins fell in Halys&rsquo;s way.
This was the Frenchman&rsquo;s first clay-court win against opponents ranked in the top-50. As he continues in fine form, Halys enters his third ATP Tour quarter-final this year.
&ldquo;We were doing great, both of us. But, I was maybe more aggressive than him,&rdquo; said Halys after the match. &ldquo;He's very tough to play,&rdquo; he added about his opponent. &rdquo;He's moving very well, not missing many shots. I'm pretty happy about the way I played today.&rdquo;
During this year&rsquo;s Australian swing, Bautista Agut defeated world No 8 Andrey Rublev in the first round of the Adelaide International 1 before losing to the eventual finalist Sebastian Korda. He followed up the performance with a final at the Adelaide International 2 where he lost in three sets to the lucky loser, Kwon Soon-woo.
The 2023 edition of the Millennium Estoril Open was the Spaniard&rsquo;s first match on clay since winning his 11th ATP Tour title in Kitzb&uuml;hel in 2022.
The first set of the match saw both players hold their serves with relative ease. Halys hit eight aces to Bautista Agut&rsquo;s zero in the first part of the match, but both players continued to amass points on serve. The first breakpoint came late in the set when, at 5:6, Bautista Agut had the chance to pull ahead in the match. Halys held, and the match moved into the tiebreak.
In the decider, after giving up a minibreak, Halys broke the Spaniard twice and served out with a 7:5 score.
However, it was Bautista Agut who struck first in the second set, breaking Halys at 2:1 at the first opportunity. He couldn&rsquo;t follow it up with a hold, and as the second set&rsquo;s score again stood level, both players once more settled into their rhythms.
Serving at 3:4, Halys hit an ace down the T, then won a point off an unreturned serve down the middle. Next, he hit another ace down the T, and served wide to finish the game.
Bautista Agut paid back in kind. His first service point was unreturned. He followed with a one-two, playing an inside out forehand winner. In the next point, after a short rally, he forced Halys into an error, the Frenchman putting a forehand into the net. Bautista Agut rounded off the game with another inside out forehand winner, an almost exact copy of the previous one.
With another tiebreak on the horizon, Halys kicked into gear and broke Bautista Agut for a 6:5 lead, placing himself one service game away from winning the match. He held without trouble, adding to his total tally of 14 aces.
Quentil Halys advances to the quarter-finals where will face resurgent Dominic Thiem.
In the doubles draw, Miomir Kecmanović made it a double joy as, following his singles victory, he returned to the court to pair up with Nikola Ćaćić for another win &ndash; this time over Diego Hidalgo and Cristian Rodr&iacute;guez. The Serbs made a slow start to the match, but came back from a set down to send the South American duo out of the tournament 4:6 7:6(5) 10:4.
Dominic Thiem was another player to return for a second serving of tennis. Together with Jo&atilde;o Sousa, the pair took on tournament&rsquo;s seed No 3 Gonzalo Escobar and Fabien Reboul in the second round match of the doubles draw.
&ldquo;It's been a long time since I doubled up in a day, which is always nice,&rdquo; Thiem said after his singles victory. &ldquo;I'm looking forward to it. Two days ago &ndash; unbelievable crowd. I hope today is the same, and maybe we can win another match.&rdquo;
However, it wasn&rsquo;t meant to be as the seeded pair proved too strong for the Austro-Portuguese alliance. Escobar and Reboul advance to the semi-finals of the tournament with a swift 6:3 6:2 victory in 59 minutes.
Radu Albot and Victor Vlad Cornea withdrew from the tournament giving their second round opponents, Belgian pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, a walkover into the semi-finals.
<a href="https://www.millenniumestorilopen.com/news/642ee7246d8a01001d7cdefa">Earlier in the day</a>, Miomir Kecmanović defeated Jurij Rodionov 6:0 6:1, and Dominic Thiem overcame Ben Shelton with a 6:2 6:2 victory.

SEEDS OF DOUBT

O franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys (80.&ordm; ATP) continua a vencer e a convencer no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e esta quinta-feira carimbou a &uacute;ltima vaga para os quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open ap&oacute;s bater o espanhol Roberto Bautista Agut, quarto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e atual 28.&ordm; do ranking, com os parciais de 7-6(5) e 7-5.
No embate que encerrou os oitavos de final da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova, numa sess&atilde;o noturna calorosa, Quentin Halys e Roberto Bautista Agut proporcionaram um bom entretenimento a todos os portugueses que praticamente encheram o Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
Depois de um primeiro parcial sem breaks (apenas uma chance para o espanhol), o tie-break tornou-se inevit&aacute;vel, e a&iacute; Halys recuperou de um mini-break abaixo. No segundo parcial a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o tamb&eacute;m foi necess&aacute;ria, mas no caso a 1-3, fazendo o contra-break de imediato.
Com t&eacute;nis ultra agressivo, muitas subidas &agrave; rede e um servi&ccedil;o demolidor (14 ases neste duelo), Quentin Halys complementou a vit&oacute;ria frente a Nuno Borges ao derrotar um antigo top 10 para chegar pela terceira vez aos quartos de final na presente temporada e em toda a carreira no ATP Tour.
Para chegar pela primeira vez &agrave;s meias-finais, o finalista do Porto Open em 2021 ter&aacute; de ultrapassar um dos maiores especialistas de terra batida na &uacute;ltima d&eacute;cada: Dominic Thiem, contra quem nunca mediu for&ccedil;as anteriormente.
&nbsp;

Quentin Halys derrota um dos favoritos ao título no Estoril

Ao quarto dia do quarto principal, a primeira surpresa. Hubert Hurkacz, segundo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e 12.&ordm; do ranking ATP, saiu derrotado por 6-7(7), 6-4 e 6-2 no duelo frente a Bernabe Zapata Miralles (43.&ordm;), que conquistou a maior vit&oacute;ria da carreira em termos de hierarquia do opositor.
Confiante pelos resultados da g&iacute;ria sul-americana de terra batida, onde logrou duas meias-finais (Buenos Aires e Rio de Janeiro, este &uacute;ltimo da categoria 500, nos quais s&oacute; cedeu para os futuros campe&otilde;es, respetivamente, Carlos Alcaraz e Cameron Norrie), Bernabe Zapata Miralles deu a volta a um set inaugural onde teve um set point no tie-break frente a um dos nomes fortes do circuito - h&aacute; uns dias era nono do ranking e j&aacute; possui no curr&iacute;culo um Masters 1000.
A partir do segundo parcial conseguiu prolongar mais as jogadas, visou mais a direita do polaco e acabou por ganhar o encontro a longo prazo (o duelo teve a dura&ccedil;&atilde;o de 2h28). Para o triunfo - que se tornou no melhor da carreira e o segundo face a um top20, depois do sucesso frente a Taylor Fritz (14.&ordm; na altura) em Roland-Garros, na temporada passada - foram essenciais os 11 pontos de break salvos pelo valenciano em 12 oportunidades criadas pelo 'Hubi'.
Para atingir a terceira meia-final da temporada, o espanhol ter&aacute; de ultrapassar Miomir Kecmanovic nos quartos de final desta sexta-feira. O s&eacute;rvio, sexto pr&eacute;-designado fruto do 40.&ordm; posto, bateu sem apelo nem agravo o austr&iacute;aco Jurij Rodionov (120.&ordm;) por 6-0 6-1 no embate inaugural da jornada.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Zapata Miralles surpreende Hubert Hurkacz e arrecada maior vitória da carreira

O portugu&ecirc;s Jo&atilde;o Sousa e o austr&iacute;aco Dominic Thiem despediram-se esta quinta-feira do quadro de pares do Millennium Estoril Open com uma derrota nos quartos de final.
Tr&ecirc;s dias ap&oacute;s o triunfo na ronda inaugural frente ao tamb&eacute;m portugu&ecirc;s Duarte Vale e o norte-americano Ben Shelton, Sousa e Thiem n&atilde;o conseguiram resistir ao equatoriano Gonzalo Escobar e ao franc&ecirc;s Fabien Reboul e cederam por 6-3 e 6-2.
Tal como no primeiro encontro, tamb&eacute;m esta quinta-feira o Court Cascais ficou totalmente preenchido para o duelo, mas o apoio do p&uacute;blico portugu&ecirc;s n&atilde;o foi suficiente para ajudar a dupla luso-austr&iacute;aca a seguir em frente.
Desta forma, o oitavo Millennium Estoril Open j&aacute; s&oacute; conta com dois portugueses em prova: nada mais, nada menos do que os campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo desta variante, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral &mdash; que disputam os quartos de final na sexta-feira.

Sousa e Thiem eliminados nos quartos de final de pares

In a blockbuster of a match, Dominic Thiem returned to winning ways with a 6:2 6:2 victory over Ben Shelton.
After impressing in his first round victory against Sebastian Ofner, the Austrian was looking to string two consecutive match wins for the first time this season. Former world No 3, puts an injury-plagued season behind, and is back playing at a high level.
&ldquo;It changed between Indian Wells and Miami [this year]. I started to have a very good feeling with the forehand, or at least a much better feeling,&rdquo; said Thiem about today&rsquo;s performance. &ldquo;On clay, it's a bit easier to play it out. I get more time, I get more chances to get in the rallies.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m starting to feel that the forehand is doing damage again. I'm not worried at all if the ball comes to the forehand, and that&rsquo;s a good sign,&rdquo; he concluded.
Making his first trip to Europe, Shelton enjoyed a blistering start to the tournament. Showing no sign of nerves, he defeated France&rsquo;s Constant Lestienne in the first round, but it was the warm hospitality and the vistas of the Portuguese Riviera that impressed the young American. &ldquo;I'm really happy that I decided to come here,&rdquo; he said after the win. &ldquo;This is the first city that I've been to in Europe. But, as I said on the court, my favourite so far,&rdquo; he added laughing.
Today, the young American played with the zeal of a newcomer to the big stages, but was met with the hardened experience of a Tour veteran.
&ldquo;I didn't really know what's coming,&rdquo; said Thiem about his opponent after the second round win. &ldquo;It was my first match against Ben. He's been on Tour for less than a year, came from zero to top-40 in less than a year. An unbelievable player.
&ldquo;I saw his matches in Australia when he made the quarter-finals. And I had a lot of respect for his serve, the speed of his shots,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So, I was coming into the match with the mindset of having a good start and not conceding a break. And then, out of a sudden, it was 0:2, which was a horrible start.&rdquo;
In the match, Shelton visibly struggled, dwarfed by the shadow of a much more experienced opponent. Despite holding in the first game, then capitalising on the Austrian&rsquo;s poor serving to break in the second one for a 2:0 lead, he soon lost his way. As Thiem found his &ndash; breaking back immediately &ndash; a pattern slowly started to emerge.
Standing deep behind the baseline, Thiem was able to neutralise Shelton&rsquo;s most potent weapon, his serve. His stinging returns caused Shelton plenty of trouble &ndash; the youngster, approaching the net at every half-chance, missed a number of volleys. On other occasions, he fell victim to Thiem's comfortable passing shots.
Not being able to deal with the Austrian&rsquo;s topspin, Shelton played a high-risk game, going for winners, and missing by inches.
Serving for the first set at 5:2, Thiem played two exquisite one-twos. Next, Shelton&rsquo;s return sailed long. At 40:0, the Austrian&rsquo;s second serve kicked high, and remained unreturned.
In the second set, Shelton tried to adjust. With forays to the net now more rare, he engaged Thiem in a number of long rallies. He held serve in the initial game, but soon got broken again, double faulting at 0:40. Despite a short-lived resurgence at 1:4, when he did his best against by-now high-flying Thiem, Shelton eventually lost the second set 6:2.
With the victory, Dominic Thiem books a place in his 73rd career ATP Tour-level quarter-final, where he will face the winner of the match between fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and Quentin Halys.
Earlier in the day, Miomir Kecmanović outclassed Jurij Rodionov with a near-flawless 6:0 6:1 victory on court Estadio Millennium.
Kecmanović, the sixth tournament seed, storms into the quarter-finals &ndash; his first on clay since reaching the 2022 BMW Open in Munich &ndash; where he will meet the winner of the Hubert Hurkacz versus Bernabe Zapata Miralles match.
&ldquo;I played pretty great today,&rdquo; said Kecmanović after the win. &ldquo;I made everything [every shot] that I wanted to. So it was just my day today.
&ldquo;[Winning like that] it's easy to lose concentration. You get comfortable, start to relax a little bit, and things can quickly get away,&rdquo; he said about the manner of the win. &ldquo;But I had that on my mind. Luckily, I was able to keep going.&rdquo;
Coming off a personal-best year in 2022, when he posted 38 wins and reached quarter-finals in both legs of the Sunshine Double (in Indian Wells and Miami), Kecmanović, at 23, entered the match seeking the 21st ATP Tour quarter-final appearance in his young career.
His opponent, Jurij Rodionov, who on Tuesday defeated Albert Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas, rose six spots in the live rankings over the week, which would take him to a new career-high of No 114.
As the match began in the scorching sun on the Estadio Millennium, the sixth seed made an early stake on the match, breaking his opponent in the first game. Rodionov fought back. At deuce in the next game, he stepped into the court, and pushed his opponent deep with an attacking backhand. Kecmanović scrambled to return the shot, but was powerless in reaching the dropshot that followed.
Despite the danger, the Serb served coolly. After reaching deuce again, he hit an inside out forehand following a serve out wide, and then held with an unreturned serve into the same spot.
Kecmanović&rsquo;s domination continued. He held his service games with ease and broke Rodionov three more times for a 6:0 set.
The Serb showed no signs of easing off, and allowed his opponent just one more game for a 6:1 victory in the second set.&nbsp;

THIEM BACK TO WINNING WAYS. KECMANOVIĆ MASTERCLASS.

Dominic Thiem (111.&ordm; do ranking ATP) realizou a melhor exibi&ccedil;&atilde;o de 2023 e superou o prod&iacute;gio norte-americano Ben Shelton (39.&ordm;) com os parciais de 6-2 e 6-2 para atingir os quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open, primeiros desde outubro da temporada passada.
Mesmo apesar da entrada em falso no encontro (0-2), o austr&iacute;aco, antigo n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s mundial e campe&atilde;o do Us Open de 2020, arredacou seis jogos consecutivos (cedendo somente sete pontos, um no servi&ccedil;o), expondo no Est&aacute;dio Millennium algumas das armas que o tornaram num dos melhores jogadores da &uacute;ltima d&eacute;cada, em especial em terra batida.
Com respostas profundas, uma direita com elavado top spin a reagir bem &agrave;s condi&ccedil;&otilde;es r&aacute;pidas do court, Thiem retirou todas as op&ccedil;&otilde;es ao oitavo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie (e wild card), que nunca soube bem como contrariar o mais experiente e rodado na superf&iacute;cie - do fundo do court cometeu alguns erros por querer for&ccedil;ar a nota, e quando ensaiava subidas &agrave; rede o quatro vezes finalista de torneios do Grand Slam mostrou-se sempre r&aacute;pido e eficaz.
Apurado para os quartos de final, Dominic Thiem - que referiu estar satsifeito com o seu n&iacute;vel de jogo, em especial na pancada de direita - espera agora pelo desfecho do duelo entre Roberto Bautista Agut (quarto favorito) e Quentin Halys e enquanto n&atilde;o sabe o seu pr&oacute;ximo oponente (que vir&aacute; do derradeiro embate do dia) tem um compromisso de pares para disputar ao lado de Jo&atilde;o Sousa, ainda nesta quinta-feira.
Quanto a Ben Shelton (visivelmente indisposto) sair&aacute; de Portugal com motivos para sorrir: na primeira vinda &agrave; Europa somou o triunfo inaugural em p&oacute; de tijolo tradicional.

Dominic Thiem em crescendo vence duelo do dia

Quatro das oito vagas para os quartos de final do Millennium Estoril j&aacute; est&atilde;o preenchidas. A dan&ccedil;a das cadeiras continua nesta quinta-feira e em ac&ccedil;&atilde;o estar&atilde;o pesos pesados do t&eacute;nis mundial, que procuram juntar-se aos consagrados Casper Ruud, Sebastian Baez (campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina e Marco Cecchinato.
O principal duelo do sexto dia de competi&ccedil;&atilde;o ser&aacute; protagonizado por Dominic Thiem e Ben Shelton. O contraste entre ambos n&atilde;o podia ser mais vincado: Thiem &eacute; um verdadeiro especialista de terra batida, j&aacute; atingiu o terceiro posto da hierarquia masculina, venceu um torneio do Grand Slam (e logrou mais tr&ecirc;s finais, duas das quais em Roland Garros) e um Masters 1000, mas atualmente est&aacute; fora dos 100 primeiros do ranking e a tentar regressar a um n&iacute;vel mais condizente com o seu real valor; Shelton nunca tinha pisado um court no p&oacute; de tijolo europeu antes de chegar ao Estoril, est&aacute; em fase exponencialmente ascendente e, h&aacute; um ano, nem sequer pertencia aos 500 melhores do mundo. Mas entretanto &eacute; 39.&ordm; e, na primeira vez que saiu dos Estados Unidos da Am&eacute;rica, marcou presen&ccedil;a nos quartos de final do Australian Open.
Quem sair por cima desse embate ser&aacute; candidato &agrave; &ldquo;estatueta&rdquo; para melhor jogador do torneio, ainda que n&atilde;o seja o &uacute;nico nomeado. Hubert Hurkacz (atual 12.&ordm; ATP), Roberto Bautista Agut (28.&ordm;), dois antigos integrantes do top 10 mundial presentes no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril (o polaco era nono na semana passada), aparecem como cabe&ccedil;as de cartaz e prometem animar a sess&atilde;o noturna face a, respetivamente, Bernabe Zapata Miralles e Quentin Halys, que v&ecirc;m de eliminar estrelas da casa e est&atilde;o num bom momento.
N&atilde;o podemos deixar de fora da corrida o s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic. Agora no top 40, o s&eacute;rvio &eacute; apontado h&aacute; muitos anos como um sucessor de Novak Djokovic e tem trilhado um bom percurso, tendo atingindo o seu apogeu ten&iacute;stico por esta altura da temporada passada.
E se &eacute; certo que individualmente a representa&ccedil;&atilde;o portuguesa ficou &oacute;rf&atilde;, o mesmo n&atilde;o se pode dizer das duplas. Os campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral, s&oacute; regressam ao court na sexta-feira, mas Jo&atilde;o Sousa (ao lado de Thiem) tenta o acesso &agrave;s meias-finais no dia de hoje. O argumento perfeito continua bem poss&iacute;vel de ser escrito.

Um Blockbuster e outros candidatos ao prémio de protagonista principal

The tournament&rsquo;s top seed, world No 4 Casper Ruud, came back from a set down to defeat Jo&atilde;o Sousa 4:6 6:2 6:2.
The Portuguese, who had little time to recover following yesterday&rsquo;s thrilling victory over Giulio Zeppieri, played a determined first set, but in the end came up short against one of the world's best players.
&ldquo;In the second set and third set, I couldn't hold my serve,&rdquo; said Sousa after the defeat. &ldquo;And then, with him having a comfortable advantage, things changed.
&ldquo;He managed to let go, came on top and, and with these types of players, when they are on top, they are devastating,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;The truth is that his level both in the second and third set was higher than mine.
&ldquo;I gave everything I had, and I think that, despite the defeat, I'm happy with my level,&rdquo; Sousa concluded.
Earlier in the week, Casper Ruud spoke of a potential clash with Sousa. &ldquo;It's gonna be a tough battle, because he always brings everything to the court,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He is a great fighter and a great player. Last time we played, it was in [the final of] Geneva [Open] last year, I believe. It was a very tough match [Ruud won 7:6(3) 4:6 7:6(1)]. He served for the match, and I was just lucky to somehow win. And I'm sure that if we play, he will want his revenge.&rdquo;
The pair entered the court to a packed stadium, buzzing in anticipation of an exhilarating clash. As the match began, both players showed early signs of intent. Ruud loaded his shots with deep topspin, pushing his opponent back. Sousa, playing in front of the home audience, enjoyed thunderous applause at each of his winners. And he was the first to strike, too. At 2:2 0:15, he reeled off four consecutive points to break Ruud for an early advantage.
Despite the deficit, Ruud was keeping up the pressure. Receiving at 3:4, he engaged Sousa in a long cross-court backhand rally, eventually pushing the Portuguese out wide beyond his reach. However, Sousa&rsquo;s service game was on point, and soon he was serving for the set from 5:4. He started off the game with an ace out wide, following it up with an un-returned body serve. Next, came another ace, this time down the middle. He gave up a point when Ruud hit a brilliant forehand down the line, but finished the set after one of his shots caught the baseline, with the Norwegian unable to play it back.
Ruud, determined to make amends, began the second set with a love hold. He then pushed Sousa to the limit, breaking him at the second asking for a 2:0 lead in the set. At 4:1, the pair then played the longest game of the match so far, Sousa holding his opponent at an arm&rsquo;s length by saving four breakpoints. Nevertheless, he couldn&rsquo;t recover the score in time, and was broken to love when serving to stay in the set at 2:5.
As the final set commenced, Ruud seemed firmly in control of the encounter. He held, and in the following game, barraged Sousa with deep groundstrokes, drawing numerous errors from the Portuguese. Sousa did his best to hold on, but eventually succumbed to the fifth breakpoint of the game. Soon after, it was 5:0 to the Norwegian, and the match seemed all but done. Sousa, intent on defying what was slowly becoming reality, held his next service game, and then broke the Norwegian &ndash; doubling his tally in the set. However, despite the heroics, he was powerless in stopping Ruud from breaking again, who claimed the set and therefore the match 6:2.
&ldquo;I didn't start right at all,&rdquo; said Ruud after the match. &ldquo;It was quite challenging with the sun and the shade on part of the court. It was tough to see the ball well. I was hitting frames after frames in the first set. But as the sun sort of settled down, I was able to find my rhythm, and play better and better throughout the match.
&ldquo;I know that if I'm playing good, deep returns, I will probably have a good chance to play for every point there on that surface,&rdquo; he concluded. &ldquo;So, that's sort of the goal.&rdquo;
Casper Ruud secures a place in the quarter-finals where he will look to dethrone last year&rsquo;s champion, Sebasti&aacute;n B&aacute;ez.
The night session concluded with Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina seeing off a spirited challenge from France&rsquo;s Luca Van Assche with a 6:3 7:5 victory.
Davidovich Fokina is a Millennium Estoril Open regular &ndash; with today&rsquo;s win, he reaches his fourth quarter-final in as many outings.
Van Assche, who on Monday became the first player born after Carlos Alcaraz to enter the top-100 in the official rankings, entered the duel on an 11-match winning streak. The Frenchman was seeking his first ATP Tour quarter-final, and the biggest win of his career, having lost the last three encounters versus players ranked in the top-50.
As the temperature dropped and the crowd thinned, the players began the match on an even footing, holding their opening service games. Van Assche, cleverly mixing depth and pace, moved Davidovich Fokina around the court. Yet, it was the Spaniard, more accustomed to the conditions of the Millennium Estoril Open, who drew the first blood, breaking the young Frenchman at 2:1. Undaunted, Van Assche tried to counter-attack. He pushed Davidovich Fokina to two breakpoints in the subsequent game, but the Spaniard held. With the score advantage of 4:1, he served out the set three games later, converting his second set point.
At the start of the second set, it looked like the scales started to tip. With the disappointment of the first set seemingly out of Van Assche&rsquo;s mind, he made a brisk start, and raced off to a 4:1 lead. Davidovich Fokina, playing from deep behind the baseline, soon neutralised his opponent, and, allowing him just one more game, served out the set for a 7:5 victory.
&ldquo;I was very uncomfortable playing today,&rdquo; assessed Davidovich Fokina after the match. &ldquo;It is my first match on clay, and the change of surface is never easy, especially against an opponent who had won 10, 11 games in a row on clay,&rdquo; he said.
Speaking about his next round opponent, Marco Cecchinato, Davidovich Fokina added: &ldquo;Marco is another player who is winning matches, and he has won a good one today. So, I have to be ready for the jabs that he'll throw.&rdquo;
In the doubles draw, Portugal&rsquo;s Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral started their doubles title defence with a 6:3 7:6(3) victory over Monaco&rsquo;s Romain Arneodo and Austria&rsquo;s Sam Weissborn. The pair extended their Millennium Estoril Open winning record to five matches having lifted the 2022 trophy as wildcard entrants.
&ldquo;We are very happy to start another Estoril Open with a victory,&rdquo; said Borges and Cabral after the match.
&ldquo;It wasn't an easy match, with this year's conditions a little different from last year &ndash; the ball, but also the surface. But I think that taking everything into account, we ended up having a good match, a good first round, and we are confident for what follows in the tournament.&rdquo;
Next, they will face Netherland&rsquo;s Robin Haase and Austria&rsquo;s Philipp Oswald, who upset doubles seed No 1, German Andreas Mies and Monaco&rsquo;s Hugo Nys, with a straight set 7:6(4) 6:1 victory.
A further upset was served when the second doubles seed, Brazil&rsquo;s Marcelo Melo and Australia&rsquo;s John Peers, suffered a similar fate losing to the South American duo, Diego Hidalgo from Ecuador and Colombian Cristian Rodriguez.
Hidalgo/Rodriguez advanced to the second round of the tournament with a thrilling 7:6(5) 6:7(7) 10:6 performance, and will meet Serbia&rsquo;s Nikola Cacic and Miomir Kecmanovic, who vanquished the tournament&rsquo;s Aussie pair, Andrew Harris and John-Patrick Smith, in a 6:2 6:4 win.
Soon after his singles win over Fabio Fognini, Marco Cecchinato returned to the court to pair up with Quentin Halys for a doubles clash against seed No 3, Ecuador&rsquo;s Gonzalo Escobar and Frenchman Rabien Reboul. The pair, both of whom are still in the singles part of the tournament, offered little resistance to their opponents, and lost the match 6:0 6:3 in just 49 minutes.
Escobar and Reboul move to the second round where they will face Dominic Thiem and Jo&atilde;o Sousa, who won their first round doubles match on Monday.
<a href="https://www.millenniumestorilopen.com/news/642dc67a99171a001d4946db">Earlier in the day</a>, Marco Cecchinato defeated Fabio Fognini 4:6 6:3 6:3, and Sebasti&aacute;n B&aacute;ez continued the title defence with a 6:4 7:6(2) win over Pedro Cachin.

QUARTER-FINALS IN SIGHT

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, terceiro favorito ao t&iacute;tulo no Millennium Estoril Open, estreou-se na oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova com um triunfo suado sobre o prod&iacute;gio franc&ecirc;s Luca Van Assche por 6-3 e 7-5.
Quarta vez para Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (no 24.&ordm; posto da hierarquia, o seu melhor registo) no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis portugu&ecirc;s, quarta vez (no m&iacute;nimo) nos quartos de final. O tenista de 23 anos voltou a jogar sob os holofotes, como &eacute; apan&aacute;gio, no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e n&atilde;o desapontou.
O 'show man' de M&aacute;laga n&atilde;o sabe perder na estreia no Estoril, mas precisou de se aplicar para superar o campe&atilde;o do &uacute;ltimo Maia Open e 91.&ordm; do ranking, carrasco de Pedro Sousa no derradeiro encontro do portugu&ecirc;s na prova. Ainda que n&atilde;o tenha cedido sets, Davidovich recuperou de break abaixo no segundo parcial (4-1) e anular um set point a 5-4, num segundo servi&ccedil;o.
O terceiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie defrontar o italiano Marco Cecchinato na sexta-feira e lutar&aacute; pelo acesso pela terceira vez &agrave;s meias-finais (2019 e 2021). Ser&aacute; um primeiro duelo entre ambos.

Davidovich Fokina triunfa e mantém-se invicto na estreia no Millennium Estoril Open

Era o encontro do dia e n&atilde;o desiludiu: na abertura das sess&otilde;es noturnas em 2023, o noruegu&ecirc;s Casper Ruud derrotou o portugu&ecirc;s Jo&atilde;o Sousa em tr&ecirc;s&nbsp;sets e carimbou o apuramento para os quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open.
A atuar pela primeira vez na terra batida do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, o n&uacute;mero cinco mundial deixou bem patentes as credenciais que fizeram dele finalista de Roland-Garros, do US Open e do ATP Finals em 2022 (um ano em que esteve a dois&nbsp;sets de ascender &agrave; lideran&ccedil;a do&nbsp;ranking) e contornou a boa entrada do jogador "da casa" para triunfar por 4-6, 6-2 e 6-2.
Este foi o primeiro duelo entre Ruud e Sousa desde que os dois protagonizaram uma final &eacute;pica no ATP 250 de Genebra, em maio de 2022. E tamb&eacute;m nesta quarta-feira o vimaranense, com 34 anos celebrados h&aacute; uma semana, conseguiu causar muitas dificuldades &agrave;quela que foi uma das maiores figuras da temporada transata, desta vez com uma aposta na antecipa&ccedil;&atilde;o, na agressividade e com melhorias na pancada de esquerda &mdash; at&eacute; que o noruegu&ecirc;s apanhou o ritmo e construiu de forma categ&oacute;rica a recupera&ccedil;&atilde;o.
Depois de superar o campe&atilde;o de 2018, Casper Ruud vai medir for&ccedil;as nos quartos de final com o vencedor de 2022: Sebastian Baez foi um dos primeiros vencedores da jornada ao superar o compatriota Pedro Cachin e j&aacute; leva sete triunfos consecutivos no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis organizado em Portugal.

Estreante Casper Ruud afasta João Sousa rumo aos quartos de final

On Day 5 of the Millennium Estoril Open, 2022 champion Sebasti&aacute;n B&aacute;ez continued his title defence by moving past Pedro Cachin with a 6:4 7:6(2) victory in 2h13m.
B&aacute;ez, current top Argentine player, who defeated Radu Albot 7:5 7:6(3) in the first round, took on his older compatriot in the pair&rsquo;s first Tour-level meeting. For his part, Cachin, who is yet to score a Tour win against a fellow Argentine, hoped to improve on his 3-10 record against players ranked inside the top-50.
B&aacute;ez started the match with a clean break, and followed it up with a tough hold, fending off a breakpoint in the process. At 1:2, Cachin struck back and broke B&aacute;ez to level the match. At 15:15 in the next game, B&aacute;ez played a clever dropshot when his opponent slipped and fell, scraping his knee and wrist. Despite the setback, Cachin went on to hold. The pair held their next two respective games, but, serving at 4:5, Cachin squandered a 40:15 lead, losing the next four points and therefore the set.
With the first set in his pocket, B&aacute;ez followed it up with another blow, breaking Cachin in the first game of the second set. Cachin broke back at 1:2 after B&aacute;ez made a poor start to his service game, finding himself at 15:40, but the champion responded immediately, forcing three breakpoints in the subsequent game and eventually converting. At 4:3 and serving, B&aacute;ez granted his opponent two breakpoints with a missed forehand after a long rally each. Defending the second one, he misjudged a backhand that sailed just a couple of inches long, and Cachin once more levelled. This wasn&rsquo;t the last twist of the match, either. After another break each, the set went into a tiebreak where B&aacute;ez established an early lead, firing a forehand down the line after Cachin&rsquo;s poor effort at a dropshot, then lobbing his opponent successfully. With a seemingly unassailable 6:1 lead in the decider, B&aacute;ez sealed the match with a fine dropshot that proved out of reach for Cachin.
&ldquo;I think it was a very complicated match,&rdquo; assessed B&aacute;ez after the encounter. &ldquo;Playing against an Argentine is always difficult. He is a great player who has [recently] been winning good matches. I respect him a lot as a player.
&ldquo;I think there are a lot of things to improve [in my game], so I'm happy to continue and have another chance to do better than today.&rdquo;
With the win, B&aacute;ez advances to the quarter-finals where he will face the winner of Jo&atilde;o Sousa versus Casper Ruud.
Marco Cecchinato moved to the next round of the tournament with a 4:6 6:3 6:3 victory over Fabio Fognini. The Italian booked a place in his first ATP Tour quarter-final since losing to Franco Agamenone at the Croatia Open in July 2022.
Fognini, far from his best due to an injury niggle picked up at the end of the first set, was powerless to overcome his younger compatriot, who on Monday also defeated Diego Schwartzman in two tightly-contested sets.
Following a straight-set win against qualifier Alessandro Giannessi, Fognini entered the second round looking for his first consecutive Tour-level match win since the Serbia Open in April last year. In Belgrade, he reached the semi-final, en-route defeating today&rsquo;s opponent &ndash; which was also the pair&rsquo;s last meeting in a Tour-level match &ndash; before losing to the eventual champion Andrey Rublev.
With one ranking place separating the pair, both players started the match strongly, but it was Fognini who scored the early advantage. At his first opportunity to break, he caught his approaching opponent off-guard with a backhand return through the middle. Fognini then served out his next game to love. He followed it up with another break, and with the score standing at 3:0, Cecchinato found himself scrambling to stay in the set. With a firm 5:3 lead, Fognini&rsquo;s fortune had unfortunately changed when he felt pain in his calf, and was forced to call for the attention of the physio. After a brief medical timeout, he managed to resume and serve out the set 6:4.
However, suffering from obvious discomfort, he started missing shots, his movement impaired by the injury. Despite falling behind 4:1 in the second set, Fognini was still causing his opponent plenty of problems, winning well-struck one-twos on his serve, and employing his forehand offensively. Cecchinato nevertheless retained the advantage, moving Fognini around the court, and winning points off clever dropshots. He finished the set, serving it out for a 6:3 score.
As the third set began, Cecchinato&rsquo;s game grew more erratic, with more of his groundstrokes sailing out of bounds. Yet, he continued to win easy points off dropshots, Fognini barely moving to each one of them. Receiving at 2:2, Cecchinato raced to a 40:0 lead, and converted the first break of the set on the second occasion. He followed it up with a tricky hold and, two games later, broke Fognini again, converting his second match point.
&ldquo;It's always tough to play against a friend,&rdquo; said Cecchinato after the win. &ldquo;After his injury, it was a totally different match. I was focused on my game, but it's never easy to play like this.
&ldquo;I'm very happy for the victory,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;[But] I'm not happy [about Fognini&rsquo;s injury], but I need to think of myself, and I'm very focused on the next round.&rdquo;
Moving on to the quarter-finals of the tournament, Marco Cecchinato will next face the winner of the tie between Luca Van Assche and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.&nbsp;

SEBASTIÁN BÁEZ ONE STEP CLOSER TO DEFENDING THE TITLE. CECCHINATO ADVANCES.

Sebastian Baez continua sem saber perder no Millennium Estoril Open e esta quarta-feira carimbou o acesso aos quartos de final da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o da prova, um ano depois do primeiro t&iacute;tulo da carreira. Frente ao compatriota Pedro Cachin, o argentino venceu por 6-4 e 7-6(2) em 2h14.
Este foi o terceiro triunfo de Sebastian Baez (32.&ordm; ATP) frente a Pedro Cachin (67.&ordm;), mas o primeiro no ATP Tour. Ao contr&aacute;rio dos anteriores, o embate foi resolvido em dois sets, ainda que Cachin - tamb&eacute;m campe&atilde;o de um torneio em Portugal, no caso no Oeiras Open de 2021 - tenha lutado at&eacute; aos derradeiros instantes para empurrar o duelo para um terceiro parcial.
Baez disp&ocirc;s tr&ecirc;s vezes de vatangem de break no segundo set, serviu mesmo para o encontro a 5-4, s&oacute; que o maior poder de fogo na direita acabou mesmo por fazer a diferen&ccedil;a nos momentos de maior aperto.&nbsp;
Para a vit&oacute;ria do mais cotado dos tenistas das pampas foi igualmente essencial o ataque aos segundos servi&ccedil;os de Cachin, que ganhou somente 27% desses 'saques'.&nbsp;
O quinto cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie regressa, assim, aos quartos de final no Estoril e somou a s&eacute;tima vit&oacute;ria seguida na prova. Na sexta-feira pode medir for&ccedil;as novamente com Jo&atilde;o Sousa, caso o campe&atilde;o de 2018 derrote Casper Ruud, principal favorito ao t&iacute;tulo, no compromisso que se segue no Est&aacute;dio Millennium.
&nbsp;

Sebastian Baez soma sétima vitória seguida no Estoril

Um ano depois de terem feito hist&oacute;ria, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral regressaram com uma vit&oacute;ria ao Millennium Estoril Open e carimbaram o apuramento para os quartos de final da variante de pares num dia em que ca&iacute;ram os primeiros e os segundos cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie.
No mesmo Court Cascais onde h&aacute; cerca de um ano deram in&iacute;cio a um cap&iacute;tulo dourado, o maiato e o portuense superaram um bra&ccedil;o de ferro equilibrado com o monegasco Romain Arneodo e o polaco Sam Weissborn pelos parciais de 6-3 e 7-6(3).
Pautado pelo equil&iacute;brio, o encontro contou com apenas uma quebra de servi&ccedil;o (ao 4-3 da primeira partida) e foi decidido num tie-break em que o apoio do p&uacute;blico embalou a dupla lusa para uma entrada de rompante decisiva para o desenrolar do tira-teimas.
De volta aos quartos de final, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral v&atilde;o enfrentar Robin Haase e Philipp Oswald. O neerland&ecirc;s e o austr&iacute;aco surpreenderam os primeiros cabe&ccedil;as de s&eacute;rie, Andreas Mies e Hugo Nys, por 7-6(4) e 6-1 numa jornada que tamb&eacute;m ditou o adeus dos segundos pr&eacute;-designados, Marcelo Melo e John Peers, eliminados por Diego Hidalgo e Cristian Rodr&iacute;guez com os equilibrados parciais de 7-6(5), 6-7(7) e 10-6.

Campeões Borges e Cabral regressam com vitória

Num duelo entre italianos, Marco Cecchinato (96.&ordm; do ranking ATP) superou Fabio Fongini (97.&ordm;) por 4-6, 6-3 e 6-3 para garantir a primeira vaga nos quartos de final do Millenium Estoril Open.
Al&eacute;m de amigos, Cecchinato e Fognini tamb&eacute;m t&ecirc;m em comum o facto de serem dois dois mais especialistas de terra batida do circuito masculino. O vencedor do dia j&aacute; foi top 20 ATP e figurou nas meias-finais de Roland-Garros de 2018 (al&eacute;m dos tr&ecirc;s t&iacute;tulos no escal&atilde;o m&aacute;ximo em cinco finais, todas em p&oacute; de tijolo), onde pelo caminho ultrapassou Novak Djokovic, ao passo que Fognini integrou a elite dos 10 melhores em 2019, ano em que arrecadou o Masters 1000 de Monte Carlo, derrotando Rafael Nadal nas meias-finais.
O encontro ficou marcado pela les&atilde;o de Fabio Fognini. Ap&oacute;s uma entrada demolidora (4-0), o mais experiente dos transalpinos (35 anos para 30 de Cecchinato) sentiu fortes dores repentinas do p&eacute; direto ao chegar a um (de muitos) amorties do advers&aacute;rio e a configura&ccedil;&atilde;o do duelo mudou totalmente. Ainda assim foi capaz de encerrar o primeiro parcial e de ser o primeiro a dispor de break point no segundo, mas o ascendente do embate foi mudando a partir desse momento.
Marco Cecchinato tamb&eacute;m se soltou mais a partir das vis&iacute;veis limita&ccedil;&otilde;es do amigo e acabou por confirmar o triunfo, com pontos de belo efeito, em 1h58. Depois do triunfo sobre Diego Schwartzman, outra vit&oacute;ria sobre um antigo top 10 e acesso aos primeiros quartos de final da temporada e primeiros no ATP Tour desde Julho de 2022, em Umag.
O italiano de esquerda a uma m&atilde;o tamb&eacute;m garantiu o s&eacute;timo sucesso consecutivo em Portugal, depois do triunfo no Challnger do CIF no in&iacute;cio de Outubro. Para chegar &agrave;s meias-finais do Millennium Estoril - nesta que ser&aacute; a primeira vez nos quartos de final no Estoril &agrave; quarta participa&ccedil;&atilde;o, depois de tr&ecirc;s desaires anteriores na terceira ronda -, Cecchinato ter&aacute; de derrotar ou o jovem franc&ecirc;s Luca Van Assche (a quem bateu, precisamente, na final do CIF) ou o espanhol Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, terceiro favorito ao t&iacute;tulo.

Marco Cecchinato bate compatriota e é o primeiro apurado para os quartos de final

Jo&atilde;o Sousa voltou a celebrar na terra batida do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e, porque n&atilde;o h&aacute; tempo a perder, regressa ao Est&aacute;dio Millennium j&aacute; esta quarta-feira para um escaldante e imperd&iacute;vel encontro da segunda ronda com Casper Ruud &mdash; tr&ecirc;s dias depois de terem acelerado juntos numa iniciativa do torneio no Aut&oacute;dromo do Estoril.
O noruegu&ecirc;s estreia-se no Millennium Estoril Open depois de um ano de sonho que o levou &agrave;s finais de Roland-Garros, do US Open e do ATP Finals e fez dele n&uacute;mero dois mundial. O portugu&ecirc;s joga em casa, j&aacute; embalado por um emocionante triunfo na primeira ronda e tem na mem&oacute;ria, n&atilde;o s&oacute; as sensa&ccedil;&otilde;es da semana que, em 2018, o levou &agrave; gl&oacute;ria, mas tamb&eacute;m o bel&iacute;ssimo encontro que realizou contra este mesmo advers&aacute;rio h&aacute; menos de um ano, em Genebra &mdash; e que por muito pouco n&atilde;o lhe deu o quinto t&iacute;tulo da carreira. A primeira sess&atilde;o noturna deste ano ficar&aacute; conclu&iacute;da com o bra&ccedil;o de ferro entre dois jovens: o franc&ecirc;s Luca van Assche, que conhece a sensa&ccedil;&atilde;o de erguer trof&eacute;us em Portugal (foi campe&atilde;o de um challenger na Maia em novembro), e o espanhol Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, j&aacute; habituado a brilhar no Millennium Estoril Open.
Antes, enquanto o sol ainda brilhar, a nossa terra batida ser&aacute; palco de dois duelos entre compatriotas que tamb&eacute;m prometem animar o p&uacute;blico: a abrir, enfrentam-se os italianos Marco Cecchinato (ex-semi-finalista de Roland-Garros) e Fabio Fognini (sempre carism&aacute;tico e imprevis&iacute;vel, com um t&iacute;tulo no ATP Masters 1000 de Monte-Carlo no curr&iacute;culo, que fala por si); depois, medem for&ccedil;as os argentinos Pedro Cachin (primeiro vencedor deste ano no quadro principal) e Sebastian Baez, o campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo que no regresso ao torneio rubricou a primeira vit&oacute;ria enquanto n&uacute;mero um do seu pa&iacute;s.
Esta quarta-feira tamb&eacute;m assinala o regresso dos campe&otilde;es de pares, Nuno Borges e Francisco Cabral. Um ano depois de terem feito hist&oacute;ria ao tornarem-se na primeira dupla portuguesa a vencer o Millennium Estoril Open, o maiato e o portuense voltam com um estatuto diferente e de olhos postos noutra conquista. Para isso, ter&atilde;o de come&ccedil;ar por superar o monegasco Romain Arneodo e o austr&iacute;aco Sam Weissborn no Court Cascais.

Do autódromo ao court

A jogar pela primeira vez o Millennium Estoril Open como n&uacute;mero um nacional (65.&ordm; ATP), Nuno Borges n&atilde;o resistiu ao franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys (80.&ordm;) e cedeu por 6-3 e 6-4.
No encontro que encerrou a primeira eliminat&oacute;ria, o n&iacute;vel do servi&ccedil;o do gaul&ecirc;s acabou por fazer a diferen&ccedil;a, salvando as duas &uacute;nicas chances de break do maiato, que viveu um m&ecirc;s e meio de sonho (dois t&iacute;tulos Challenger - 125 e 175 - e a estreia num Masters 1000, em Miami).
A &uacute;ltima das oportunidades de Borges ocorreu no jogo final do duelo. Halys, a servir para o triunfo, viu o p&uacute;blico do Est&aacute;dio Millennium entrar em loucura no apoio ao portugu&ecirc;s, mas resistiu &agrave; press&atilde;o anulando um ponto para 5-5 com o oitavo e derradeiro &aacute;s.
Apurado para a segunda ronda, Halys vai enfrentar o espanhol Roberto Bautista Agut, quarto favorito ao t&iacute;tulo, na quinta-feira.
Quanto a Nuno Borges fica com aten&ccedil;&otilde;es centradas na variante de pares, na qual defende o trof&eacute;u conquistado h&aacute; um ano com o amigo Francisco Cabral. A dupla 100% nacional entra em jogo nesta quarta-feira.
&nbsp;

Nuno Borges cede na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open

On an emotional Day 4 of the tournament, Pedro Sousa bid his farewell to the Millennium Estoril Open.
Performing his &ldquo;Last Dance&rdquo;, Sousa left his heart on Court Cascais, but eventually came up short against an in-form younger opponent, Frenchman Luca Van Assche. Sousa left the court with his head held high following an emotional three-set loss 7:6(5) 3:6 1:6.
&ldquo;It's the most special tournament we have here in Portugal,&rdquo; said Sousa after the match. &ldquo;And I think I speak not only for myself, but for everyone. Every year is special. There were years when I didn't play great matches, but there were others that really stuck in my memory.&rdquo;
After the match, in a touching moment, Pedro Sousa was invited to the Estadio Millennium for a short celebration, and was awarded a commemorative plaque.
&ldquo;I was not expecting it,&rdquo; admitted Sousa. &ldquo;It was amazing to be able to enter the centre court again, with my friends there, too &ndash; tennis friends, friends from outside of tennis.
&ldquo;And it was good to be honoured here on the biggest stage of the biggest tournament in Portuguese tennis.&rdquo;
The first set began on an even footing, as both players held their serves and contested long points, keeping the game in balance. Sousa was the first to flinch, and at 3:3 allowed his opponent a break. He recovered right after, and both players won their subsequent service games uncontested. At 5:5, Sousa made a poor start to the game and fell 0:40 behind. Van Assche pounced, and converted on the second occasion, but then couldn&rsquo;t hold his serve in the following game and the set progressed to a tiebreak which Sousa went on to claim 7:5.
Van Assche raised his game in the second set, and although Sousa saw two breakpoints in the third game, he couldn&rsquo;t capitalise on the opportunity. The Frenchman struck back, and in the following game broke Sousa, holding on to the advantage for the rest of the set for a 6:3 victory.
As the deciding set began, Sousa held his opening game, but after that he could only manage to win one point in the next 5 games, losing his serve twice. Van Assche ended the match with yet another break for a 6:1 win.
In the third match on Court Cascais, 2021 Millennium Estoril champion Albert Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas lost to Jurij Rodionov with the Austrian winning 3:6 6:1 6:4.
Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas whose last of his four titles came in 2022 at the C&oacute;rdoba Open came up against a much younger opponent, still searching for his first.
In a tightly contested match, Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas established an early advantage after scoring the only break of the first set at 1:0. The pair battled through, both having multiple opportunities to break, but continued to hold their serves. In the final game of the set, Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas saved two breakpoints, and served out the game for a 6:3 lead.
The scale tipped in the second set, and now it was Rodionov&rsquo;s turn to attack. He broke Ramos Vi&ntilde;olas twice, in the second and fourth game, and served out the set 6:1 unthreatened, without facing a single breakpoint.
Rodionov carried over his fine form from the second set, and, after saving two breakpoints in the first game, broke at 1:1. The young Austrian held on to the advantage, saving a breakpoint at 3:2, and went on to claim the match.
Jo&atilde;o Sousa booked a place in the second round overcoming Italy&rsquo;s Giulio Zeppieri 6:4 1:6 6:3 in the third match on the Estadio Millennium court.
Sousa, Portugal&rsquo;s most decorated player and the winner of the 2018 Millennium Estoril Open, is a beloved figure amongst the Portuguese fans. In 2013, he earned the biggest win of his career when he defeated then-world No 4 David Ferrer at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, later becoming the first ever Portuguese ATP Tour champion. Winner of four ATP Tour titles, he is also the only Portuguese player to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2018 US Open and 2019 Wimbledon.
Zeppieri, current world No 121, won his second Challenger title earlier this year when he defeated France&rsquo;s Titouan Droguet in February at an event in Cherbourg, France.
Sousa started the match strong, breaking his opponent at 1:1. Although Zeppieri broke back at 3:4 to level the match, the Portuguese followed it with another break and served out the first set 6:4. In the second set, the Italian fought back. He raced to a 5:0 lead, and served out the second part of the match with ease allowing Sousa just one game. As the final set began, Sousa regrouped. He held a tricky service game, then broke the Italian for what turned out to be the only break of the set, winning 6:3. As Sousa struck the winning shot, the adoring Portuguese public jumped to their feet in celebration.
&ldquo;I managed to play at a very good level, regardless of the second set,&rdquo; said Sousa after the win.
&ldquo;I think the audience was incredible,&rdquo; remarked Sousa when asked about the atmosphere during the match. &ldquo;In the third set, they gave me a lot of help to deal with a set that was going to be complicated. I think that was key to the encounter.
&ldquo;The feeling was good,&rdquo; he concluded. &ldquo;I reached a level that I haven't played at in a while, and that is very important for me.&rdquo;
In the final singles match of the day, Frenchman Quentin Halys broke the hearts of Portuguese fans when he defeated Nuno Borges 6:3 6:4.
Borges, currently Portugal&rsquo;s best player, continues his season in fine form having started 2023 with two Challenger titles, in Monterrey in February and in Phoenix in March. He is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of 65.
Halys, former world No 3 junior, broke into the top-100 in 2022. After reaching his first ATP Tour quarter-final earlier this year in Auckland, he climbed to a career-high ranking of 61. He entered the match seeking his first Tour-level clay win since defeating Hyeon Chung in the first round of 2016 French Open.
The first five games of the match saw both players serving well, never allowing the receiver to earn more than a single point in the game. At 2:3, with Borges serving, Halys went on the offensive and forced a breakpoint, but after a 13-point game, Borges held. Halys followed up the effort with a love hold, and broke Borges in the next game. The Frenchman then served out the set converting his first set point.
The fight continued. Halys, the better server on the day, had to defend just one breakpoint in his next three service games. Borges, after saving three in his first three service games, finally succumbed to the Frenchman&rsquo;s relentless offensive, who broke for 4:3. Halys won his next game to love, and prepared to serve for the match. With the fate of the match at stake, both players felt the nerves &ndash; Borges missing a backhand finishing shot and Halys putting a forehand long. Borges held on, which initially paid dividends. On his first match point, Halys missed a backhand into the net. On his second, he sprayed a forehand wide. In the end however, he was able to see the match through with a dropshot, which Borges then put long in an attempt to lob.
&ldquo;It was a great match,&rdquo; said Halys after the encounter. &ldquo;I knew it would be a tough game, but I played really well. It was a bit windy, and the crowd was going a bit crazy [playing against a Portuguese], but I managed to stay very calm, very focused, and I&rsquo;m very happy winning in two sets.&rdquo;
* * *
<a href="https://www.millenniumestorilopen.com/news/642c62b4e0cfe3001d9a371f">Earlier in the day</a>, Ben Shelton defeated Constant Lestienne 7:5 7:5, sixth tournament seed Miomir Kecmanovic earned a victory over Luca Nardi 6:4 6:1, and Bernabe Zapata Miralles booked a place in the second round with a 6:4 6:2 win over Henrique Rocha. Dominic Thiem came back from a set down to defeat his compatriot, Sebastian Ofner, 3:6 6:3 6:4.
Inthe doubles draw, seeds No 4 Sander GIlle and Joran Vliegen beat Pedro Cachin and Bernabe Zapata Miralles 3:6 6:3 10:5 for a spot in the second round of the draw.
Following a loss against Sebastian Baez in yesterday&rsquo;s singles match, Radu Albot earned a win in the doubles draw, pairing up with Victor Vlad Cornea to win the match versus Nicolas Barrientos and Ariel Behar 7:5 4:6 10:7.&nbsp;

OBRIGADO, PEDRO

Jo&atilde;o Sousa, campe&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open em 2018, regressou aos sucessos no court mais importante da sua carreira. Convidado da organiza&ccedil;&atilde;o para o torneio, o vimaranense superou o perigoso italiano Giulio Zeppieri (121.&ordm; ATP)&nbsp;por 6-4, 1-6 e 6-3.
Com um ambiente fervoroso no apoio ao agora n&uacute;mero dois nacional, Jo&atilde;o Sousa entrou com o p&eacute; no acelerador e mesmo apesar de um segundo parcial no qual o transalpino mostrou a sua poderosa direita de canhoto, o portugu&ecirc;s de 34 anos quebrou Zeppieri na inf&acirc;ncia do parcial decisivo e nunca mais largou a vantagem.
Ao dizer no final, na entrevista no court, que mostrou "ainda ter t&eacute;nis para os maiores palcos", Jo&atilde;o Sousa evidenciou todo o seu crer para regressar &agrave; elite do t&eacute;nis mundial, nunca altura em que est&aacute; no posto 147 da hierarquia masculina.
Ao somar a s&eacute;tima vit&oacute;ria no Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril - &agrave;s cinco para conquistar o t&iacute;tulo adicionou uma em 2019 -, o antigo 28.&ordm; ATP marcou um duelo de luxo na segunda ronda com o noruegu&ecirc;s Casper Ruud.
Ruud &eacute; o atual n&uacute;mero cinco mundial, primeiro cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie desta oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open, e nunca perdeu frente a Jo&atilde;o Sousa. No entanto, no &uacute;ltimo embate entre ambos, Sousa serviu para o t&iacute;tulo na final de Genebra, no ver&atilde;o de 2022.

João Sousa regressa aos triunfos no Millennium Estoril Open

On Day 4 of the 2023 Millennium Estoril open, seed No 8, rising American star Ben Shelton, opened the day&rsquo;s proceedings against France&rsquo;s Constant Lestienne. In his young career, Shelton, who joined the tournament with a wildcard, has already managed to set a number of impressive records.
In 2022, at 19-year-old , he entered the Western &amp; Southern Open in Cincinnati with a wildcard, and became the youngest American man to score a top-5 win, against Casper Ruud, since Andy Roddick did so at age 19. Shelton followed it up with a deep run into this year&rsquo;s Australian Open, an achievement which made him the youngest Grand Slam quarter-finalist since &ndash; you guessed it &ndash; again, Andy Roddick.
At the Millennium Estoril Open, Shelton was making his professional debut on the red clay &ndash; his first non-hard court event at an ATP or Challenger level.
Constant Lestienne, for his part, could believe that his luck is finally changing. Earlier in the year, at the Australian Open, he made the first round of the tournament following 21 unsuccessful Grand Slam qualifying campaigns. He went into today&rsquo;s match with a 40-17 record in Challenger level tournaments in 2022, having picked up three titles along the way, in Malaga, Pozoblanco and Vancouver during the summer.
From the start, the powerful lefty began utilising his strongest weapon. Shelton&rsquo;s serve, known to top 140mph, often remained unreturned, and when it did, he was able to put away the response with ease. The young American nevertheless took the time to find his feet in the match, frequently spraying shots out wide. The first set continued at a level pace, both players staying on serve. Receiving at 4:5, Lestienne took the score to 40:30 in his favour, but couldn&rsquo;t convert the set point as Shelton&rsquo;s serve bailed him out. Frazzled, the Frenchman lost his next service game, and the American found himself serving for his first clay court set at 6:5. The pair exchanged a number of rallies, but ultimately, Shelton was able to claim the set, pushing Lestienne wide with a powerful forehand and finishing off with a dropshot.
Lestienne compounded his disappointment by losing his serve to love at the start of the second set, but paid Shelton in kind, breaking the American also to love at 1:2. With the score level, both players went on to contest a number of straightforward games, holding without trouble, each player seeing just one opportunity to break in the process. At 5:5, with the score 15:15, Lestienne attempted a poor dropshot which the American easily put away. Next, Shelton struck a long forehand that landed just outside the baseline, but then so did Lestienne. Trying to save the breakpoint, Lestienne engaged Shelton in a long rally, but the American lured him to the net with a cleverly played slice, and drew an error out of his opponent in response. Shelton then finished off with an unreturned serve down the middle for a 7:5 7:5 victory. Undaunted by the occasion, the American celebrated his first clay court victory, and moved on to the second round in style.
Meanwhile, on Court Cascais, fans&rsquo; favourite Henrique Rocha took to the court to face Spain&rsquo;s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in his first ever ATP Tour main draw match. The Portuguese impressed during the qualifying campaign with straight set wins over Ryan Peniston and Mate Valkusz, but the qualifier was preparing to face the biggest challenge of his nascent career in the form of an opponent ranked in the 40s.
Rocha started strong. He saved a breakpoint in the first game and threatened to break his opponent three times in the following one. However, Zapata Miralles&rsquo;s experience made for an undoubted advantage, and he was soon on top having broken Rocha at 1:1. The pair went on to hold their serves without problems until deep into the set when, serving at 4:5, the Portuguese had to save a breakpoint in order to stay in the game. He managed, but couldn&rsquo;t stop Zapata Miralles from serving out the set.
In the second set, with Zapata Miralles now firmly in charge of the match, Rocha lost his serve in the opening game. He fought back, and at 1:2 forced two breakpoints, but couldn&rsquo;t convert. Despite the vociferous support of the adoring public, he lost his serve again at 1:3 and although he did manage to earn a break in the following game, he soon suffered another setback when the Spaniard struck back with yet another break. Zapata Miralles served out the match for a 6:4 6:2 win and will face the tournament&rsquo;s second seed, Hubert Hurkacz, in the next round.
&ldquo;I had some breakpoints in the first return game,&rdquo; Rocha said after the match. &ldquo;Unfortunately, I didn't manage to take advantage of it very well, and then he jumped on me in the next game. That's what made the difference until the end of the set.&rdquo;
Despite the loss, Rocha was able to find positives in his performances of the last few days. &ldquo;I'm always very upset with a defeat, because I don't think anyone likes to lose. But I had two good matches here in the qualifying, and today, I also had a good match despite not having done so well in the important moments.
&ldquo;[Playing] at home, especially, with the whole audience behind me, is incredible. It made a lot of difference in some moments. It's a good first experience for big stages, and I hope one day to play on bigger stages,&rdquo; he concluded.
Elsewhere, on Court CTE, seed No 6, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, took on Italy&rsquo;s Luca Nardi. In what could be dubbed as the battle of the youth, Kecmanovic, at 23, is the second best Serbian player, an achievement on which he is unlikely to improve soon &ndash; though through no fault of his own &ndash; while, at 19, Nardi is Italy&rsquo;s best under-20 player. Kecmanovic&rsquo;s only ATP Tour title to date came on a clay court, at the 2020 Austrian Open in Kitzb&uuml;hel. Nardi is still looking for his, having scored his first ATP Tour main draw match win at the 2022 Astana Open where he defeated a fellow qualifier Alexander Shevchenko.
The pair started on an even footing, neither able to create an advantage in the windy conditions. As clouds of dust rolled around the court, both Kecmanovic and Nardi contested a number of evenly matched games. At 2:2, Kecmanovic struck first, breaking Nardi to love. However, the following game, he couldn&rsquo;t hold his serve and the match stood even again. The Serb regrouped immediately, and increased the pressure on his opponent in the next game, but ultimately couldn&rsquo;t convert any of the three breakpoints he saw. Unfazed, he did so at 4:4, and with the set in hand, he served it out for a 6:4 victory.
In the second set, Nardi, deflated after the narrow loss, couldn&rsquo;t stop Kecmanovic &ndash; the Serb breaking his opponent in the first, third and seventh games for a 6:1 set. Seeded No 6, he advances to the second round where he awaits the winner of Jurij Rodionov and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The star attraction of the fourth day was without a doubt Dominic Thiem who, in the second match on the Estadio Millenium court, faced qualifier and fellow Austrian, Sebastian Ofner. This was the pair&rsquo;s third meeting on the ATP Tour with Thiem holding a 2:0 lead. However, Ofner&rsquo;s solid performances in the past weeks &ndash; something that through Thiem&rsquo;s own admission has been missing from his game &ndash; ensured that the match was either player&rsquo;s to take. This was Ofner&rsquo;s first ATP Tour level match since losing to Thiem at the 2022 Austrian Open in Kitzb&uuml;hel.
Thiem, in search of the pre-injury form, stated earlier this week that he believes he is recovering some of the best parts of his game. It showed from the start, with the 2020 US Open champion peppering his opponent with powerful forehands in the first two games. Ofner, however, who is currently enjoying the best part of his career &ndash; currently ranked at 122 &ndash; proved hard to break. In fact, it was the less-accomplished Austrian who struck first as he broke Thiem for a 2:0 lead. In the following game, he saved three breakpoints, and Thiem suddenly found himself on the back foot. Three games later, Ofner extended the advantage with another break. Although Thiem managed to claw one game back, he lost his serve again, and serving at 5:3, Ofner staved off four breakpoints, eventually serving out the set.
Thiem&rsquo;s form improved as the match went on. Although he lost his serve in the first game of the second set, he soon recovered. Suddenly, Thiem&rsquo;s game was coming together &ndash; he was troubling Ofner with his serve, moving him with high-powered forehands, and fending off danger with topspin-loaded backhands. He broke again, then held twice, establishing a 5:2 lead in the set. Despite the advantage, serving to equalise the match, Thiem was met with resistance from Ofner who twice threatened to break, but in the end, the more-experienced Austrian was able to see it through.
As the deciding set began, Thiem broke Ofner to start with, and followed it up with another break at 2:0. He suffered a momentary lapse when he allowed Ofner to recover one break, but held on to the lead, both players serving out their games without trouble. Serving at 5:4, Thiem saw out the match with a serve out wide which Ofner was powerless to deal with.
As the pair embraced with a warm hug, Thiem&rsquo;s mind slowly started setting on his next-round opponent, Ben Shelton.

SHELTON, KECMANOVIC AND ZAPATA MIRALLES BOOK PLACES IN THE SECOND ROUND. THIEM’S COMEBACK.

Ben Shelton e Dominic Thiem s&atilde;o duas das maiores figuras da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do Millennium Estoril Open e, ao vencerem os compromissos da primeira ronda, marcaram um duelo empolgante de acesso aos quartos de final da maior prova portuguesa de t&eacute;nis.
O primeiro triunfante do dia foi o mais novo dos dois. Na primeira viagem &agrave; Europa, e no primeiro encontro em terra batida 'tradicional', Shelton (39.&ordm; do ranking ATP), oitavo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie e wild card do torneio, evidenciou todo o seu potencial no Est&aacute;dio Millennium e derrotou o talentoso franc&ecirc;s Constantin Lestienne (63.&ordm;) por 7-5 e 7-5.
Fortes servi&ccedil;os (em especial em kick), t&eacute;nis atacante e destemido (alguns servi&ccedil;os-volley, um deles para anular um set point a 5-4 do primeiro set), o jovem norte-americano de 20 anos - que na primeira sa&iacute;da do seu pa&iacute;s atingiu os quartos de final do Australian Open para subir ao top 40 - cativou o p&uacute;blico portugu&ecirc;s com o seu elevado carisma e foi mais forte que Lestienne nas fases terminais de ambos os parciais.
Pouco tempo depois foi a vez de Dominic Thiem (111.&ordm;) vencer. Num derby austr&iacute;aico face ao amigo Sebastian Ofner (122.&ordm;), o antigo n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s mundial e campe&atilde;o do Us Open em 2020 deu a volta a set e break de desvantagem e saiu vitorioso por 3-6, 6-3 e 6-4.
Cada vez mais confiante - e um dia depois da vit&oacute;ria em pares ao lado de Jo&atilde;o Sousa - e a bater melhor a pancada de direita (a les&atilde;o que retiou do circuito foi precisamente nesse pulso), Thiem apareceu visivelmente confort&aacute;vel com o elevado calor (o seu top spin tem mais efic&aacute;cia) e mostou porque &eacute; um especialista na superf&iacute;cie - dos seus 17 t&iacute;tulos no ATP Tour, 10 s&atilde;o no p&oacute; de tijolo, al&eacute;m das duas finais em Roland-Garros.
Ben Shelton e Dominic Thiem v&atilde;o protagonizar um duelo de gera&ccedil;&otilde;es e um aut&ecirc;ntico contraste de estilos num embate de acesso aos oito melhores da prova. Um duelo imperd&iacute;vel.

Ben Shelton e Dominic Thiem marcam blockbuster na segunda ronda do Millennium Estoril Open

Pedro Sousa concluiu esta ter&ccedil;a-feira a &uacute;ltima participa&ccedil;&atilde;o da carreira no Millennium Estoril Open e despediu-se com uma ova&ccedil;&atilde;o de p&eacute; no Est&aacute;dio Millennium, que foi palco de duas das vit&oacute;rias mais &eacute;picas daquele que se tornou num dos melhores tenistas portugueses da hist&oacute;ria.
Depois de duas vit&oacute;rias emotivas na fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o, o lisboeta de 34 anos n&atilde;o resistiu &agrave; maior frescura f&iacute;sica do jovem franc&ecirc;s Luca Van Assche (18 anos e j&aacute; n&uacute;mero 91 mundial) e cedeu por 6-7(5), 6-3 e 6-1.
Num Court Cascais totalmente preenchido para o encontro que poderia assinalar a despedida, o p&uacute;blico puxou por Pedro Sousa do in&iacute;cio ao fim e ajudou o tenista lisboeta a lutar de igual para igual durante duas partidas com o franc&ecirc;s, que em novembro conquistou o primeiro t&iacute;tulo Challenger em Portugal (na Maia) e este domingo adicionou mais um trof&eacute;u ao palmar&eacute;s ao vencer em It&aacute;lia. Depois, o cansa&ccedil;o impediu-o de adicionar outro cap&iacute;tulo &agrave; &uacute;ltima participa&ccedil;&atilde;o no torneio em que at&eacute; este ano conseguiu o pleno de participa&ccedil;&otilde;es &mdash; oito em oito.
Entre os v&aacute;rios encontros que realizou, destacam-se a vit&oacute;ria por 6-3, 4-6 e 7-6(4) contra Gilles Simon na primeira ronda de 2018 e o duelo 100% luso com contornos &eacute;picos na segunda ronda contra Jo&atilde;o Sousa, no qual disp&ocirc;s de dois match points antes de perder por 4-6, 7-6(1) e 7-5.
Nascido em Lisboa a 27 de maio de 1988, Pedro Sousa tornou-se profissional em 2007 e a partir da&iacute; construiu uma carreira que fez dele uma das maiores figuras do t&eacute;nis em Portugal.
Sexto homem portugu&ecirc;s a chegar ao top 100 do ranking ATP de singulares (entretanto j&aacute; s&atilde;o sete), terceiro a jogar uma final individual ao mais alto n&iacute;vel (foi finalista do ATP 250 de Buenos Aires em fevereiro de 2020) e tamb&eacute;m terceiro a ir a jogo em singulares no quadro principal de uns Jogos Ol&iacute;mpicos (T&oacute;quio 2021), foi convocado para representar Portugal em 19 eliminat&oacute;rias da Ta&ccedil;a Davis, atuou em 15 e terminou com registos de 10-5 em singulares e 3-0 em pares.

Obrigado, Pedro!

Depois de duas vit&oacute;rias no&nbsp;qualifying, o portugu&ecirc;s Henrique Rocha (n&uacute;mero 590 do&nbsp;ranking ATP) perdeu esta ter&ccedil;a-feira na primeira ronda do quadro principal de singulares do Millennium Estoril Open &mdash; o torneio que assinalou a estreia do jovem maiato no circuito principal.
Frente a frente com Bernab&eacute; Zapata Miralles (43.&ordm;), que foi uma das sensa&ccedil;&otilde;es da &uacute;ltima temporada de terra batida, o tenista da Maia lutou durante 97 minutos, mas n&atilde;o conseguiu contrariar o favoritismo do espanhol e perdeu por 6-4 e 6-2 num Court Cascais muito bem composto, apesar de ter colocado o espanhol em sentido com alguns break points ao longo do duelo.
Com esta derrota, o grupo de representantes portugueses no quadro principal de singulares do oitavo Millennium Estoril Open ficou reduzido aos tr&ecirc;s que ainda ir&atilde;o a jogo nesta jornada: Nuno Borges, Jo&atilde;o Sousa e Pedro Sousa.

Henrique Rocha travado na primeira ronda do quadro principal

1, 2, 3, 4 portugueses entram em court numa ter&ccedil;a-feira de luxo. Nuno Borges, Jo&atilde;o Sousa, Pedro Sousa e Henrique Rocha t&ecirc;m hist&oacute;rias para escrever no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis luso e far&atilde;o as del&iacute;cias de todos os presentes.
N&uacute;mero um nacional da atualidade, Nuno Borges chega ao Millennium Estoril Open ap&oacute;s um m&ecirc;s e meio de sonho no qual se estreou no top 70 (esta semana &eacute; o 65.&ordm;), a vencer torneios do ATP Challenger Tour nas elevadas categorias de 125 e 175, a ganhar um encontro no ATP Tour fora do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril e a participar pela primeira vez em torneios Masters 1000. A estreia do maiato ser&aacute; diante o franc&ecirc;s Quentin Halys, que depois de ter dado nas vistas no circuito secund&aacute;rio est&aacute; a cimentar a sua posi&ccedil;&atilde;o na elite.
Jo&atilde;o Sousa dispensa apresenta&ccedil;&otilde;es e &eacute; um dos tr&ecirc;s antigos vencedores da prova que marcam presen&ccedil;a no quadro principal da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do torneio. Campe&atilde;o em 2018, o vimaranense enfrenta o jovem esquerdino italiano Giulio Zeppieri.
Nos &uacute;ltimos passos de uma recheada carreira profissional, Pedro Sousa enfrenta o promissor franc&ecirc;s Luca Van Assche, a fazer a estreia no top 100 mundial depois do terceiro t&iacute;tulo Challenger no passado domingo, quatro meses depois de ter inaugurado, na Maia, o palmar&eacute;s na categoria interm&eacute;dia do t&eacute;nis profissional masculino &mdash; e meio ano ap&oacute;s a primeira final nesse n&iacute;vel no Club Internacional de Foot-Ball (CIF), em Lisboa.
E se para Pedro Sousa esta &eacute; a &uacute;ltima dan&ccedil;a e tem admitido sentir uma grande carga emocional por estar a desfrutar dos derradeiros momentos em court, Henrique Rocha est&aacute; no oposto da pir&acirc;mide. A viver um sonho de menino, o jovem maiato furou a fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o na estreia em torneios ATP e n&atilde;o querer&aacute; acordar quando defrontar o espanhol Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Mas se pensam que a a&ccedil;&atilde;o vive s&oacute; de portugu&ecirc;s&hellip; pensem duas vezes. Al&eacute;m do gui&atilde;o nacional, estrelas como Dominic Thiem (campe&atilde;o do US Open em 2020 e antigo n&uacute;mero tr&ecirc;s mundial), o prod&iacute;gio Ben Shelton &mdash; a dar os primeiros deslizes em terra batida europeia &mdash;, o titular da competi&ccedil;&atilde;o em 2021, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, ou o talentoso s&eacute;rvio Miomir Kecmanovic apimentam uma jornada verdadeiramente impressionante.
O dif&iacute;cil ser&aacute; escolher.

Super terça-feira no Estoril

After the four qualifiers emerged victorious during the opening weekend, day three of the tournament saw some of the world&rsquo;s elite players enter the field.
Argentinian Pedro Cachin and Taiwan&rsquo;s Chun-Hsin Tseng kicked off the main part of the event on the Estadio Millennium court. Both players came into the tournament with some degree of familiarity with the scenery &ndash; Cachin, amongst his many Challenger and Futures titles on clay, having won Open de Oeiras in April 2021, and Tseng with a more recent title in a Challenger in Maia, next to Porto, in December 2021.
Tseng started off with an early break, but Cachin soon equalised, and the pair went on to hold their serves relatively untroubled. At 4:5, Tseng&rsquo;s service game failed him, and Cachin claimed the first set 6:4. The Taiwanese recovered quickly, and began the second set in a similar fashion, breaking Cachin in the first game for an early advantage. The Argentinian struck back at 3:4, and as he went on the offensive, forcing a flurry of breakpoints, he converted at the fourth opportunity. With the score tied at 4:4, Cachin held, and in the following game, broke his opponent again, finishing with an acrobatic defensive overhead smash that caught Tseng off guard. With a score of 6:4 6:4, Pedro Cachin books a place in the second round of the tournament.
The defending champion, Argentinian Sebastian Baez, began his title defence against Radu Albot, the top-ranked Moldovan player. Baez, who, since last year&rsquo;s triumph, added another title to his tally at the C&oacute;rdoba Open last February, took to the court relishing the mantle of the one to beat. Albot, for his part, hoped to perform better than his last year outing when he lost in the first round of qualifying against the eventual quarterfinalist Fernando Verdasco.
The early games saw both players entrenched deep behind the baseline, loading their shots with plenty of topspin. The score stayed even until Baez, with some remarkable striking, forced his opponent into a couple of errors and broke for 3:2. Albot, unfazed, dug in, and after several long rallies, the score levelled once more. Each player kept prodding the other for a weakness &ndash; Baez, who started employing his backhand offensively, causing Albot plenty of trouble, and the Moldovan making great use of his serve, frequently scoring points with &ldquo;one-twos&rdquo;.
At 5:5, Albot misjudged a call, allowing Baez to play an uncontested winner. The Moldovan then missed a put-away volley and, clearly frustrated, played a forehand into the net. Baez got his break, finishing with a well-timed drop shot. At 6:5, the Argentinian wasn&rsquo;t going to let go of the advantage and duly served out the first set.
In the second set, Albot raced to a 5:2 lead but then suffered two consecutive breaks giving Baez the opportunity to serve for the match. The Argentinian&rsquo;s nerves didn&rsquo;t hold up, and after falling behind 0:40, he allowed the Moldovan to equalise, eventually forcing the tiebreak. In the decider, Baez established a quick lead of 6:2 and converted a match point at the second asking. He advances with a 7:5 7:6(3) victory and earns himself a spot in the second round.
&ldquo;Happy to be back. [This is] a very special place for me,&rdquo; said Baez after the win. &ldquo;Today's match was difficult, but I'm happy to be able to return [to Millennium Estoril Open] with a victory.&rdquo;
In the next round, Baez, who is currently the highest-ranked Argentinian player, will face his compatriot Pedro Cachin. &ldquo;[It&rsquo;s an] achievement of being able to do so,&rdquo; remarked Baez of his ranking. &ldquo;But also, it was a bit because of bad results from a colleague. On the one hand, it is a source of pride to be the best in my country. On the other hand, it happened due to other circumstances.&rdquo;
His colleague in question, former world No 8 Diego Schwartzman, started his European clay court season with a clash against Italy&rsquo;s Marco Cecchinato in the first round. An accomplished clay court player, Schwartzman moves into his favourite part of the Tour &ndash; he won three of his four ATP Tour titles on that surface, most notably the Rio Open in 2018 where he defeated Fernando Verdasco in the final.
Cecchinato made history in 2018 when, with a world ranking of 72, he became the lowest-ranked Roland Garros men&rsquo;s semi-finalist since then-world No 100 Andrei Medvedev made the final in 1999. Cecchinato went on to achieve a career-high ranking of 16 the following year after winning his third ATP Tour title at the Argentina Open in 2019, where he defeated his opponent from today. Still finding his way following an injury-related drop in form, the Italian was surely hoping for a repeat of that result.
As the match started, both players went head to head, holding their serves and then swapping a break at 1:2. At 2:3, Schwartzman played a loose service game, handing Cecchinato three break points. The Italian converted, and served out the set, fending off just two breakpoints in the process.
In the second set, Cecchinato continued where he left off, moving Schwartzman deftly around the court with a combination of powerful forehands and well-placed backhands. His serve, high-bouncing on the red clay, mounted pressure on Schwartzman, who struggled trying to keep the ball in play. Far from his best, the Argentinian compounded his predicament by missing a number of finishing shots and routine rally points. Cecchinato soon broke, and serving at 4:3, the pair contested a long game with Schwartzman keeping the play in balance by moving the Italian out wide with high-powered forehands and then finishing the point with a skillful volley.
Serving at 5:4, with the end in sight, Cecchinato squandered an opportunity to see out the match when he fell behind 0:40. He broke back the following game, however, and once again found himself serving for the match. For the second time, he couldn&rsquo;t see it through, and the set moved into a tiebreak. Schwartzman, revitalised by the close call, took charge of the breaker, and soon established a 5:2 lead. But Cecchinato fired back and, after a number of hotly contested points, converted his third match point for a 6:3 7:6(8) victory.
&ldquo;I fought,&rdquo; assessed Schwartzman after the loss. &ldquo;I did my best to compete. The conditions, in terms of the wind and the cold, were difficult. I think I had a hard time adjusting. We came from Indian Wells and Miami, which are much faster [the surface],&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;On the other hand, I tried. I was in the match, I had my chances in the second set.
&ldquo;It's important to leave the court with my head held high, but I still have to improve a lot.&rdquo;
Speaking about his recent drop in form, Schwartzman added: &ldquo;I am confident that the [good] tennis can come. I have been playing more or less badly for many months, better, but losing many games. And as the weeks go by, I am losing a little in the sense of the rankings, and the opportunities to play the biggest tournaments.
&ldquo;I have to continue enjoying every second on the court, play with less pressure, and do better. Today may be a small step backwards, but now come Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, and Rome &ndash; big tournaments, and I have to be prepared.&rdquo;
Meanwhile on Court Cascais, in the first doubles match of the tournament, Florida Gators representatives Duarte Vale and rising American star Ben Shelton took on Portugal&rsquo;s legend Jo&atilde;o Sousa, who paired up with 2020 US Open winner, Austria&rsquo;s Dominic Thiem.
The star power of Sousa and Thiem shone in the first set, and the pair made a spirited start to the match, threatening break points at 0:0 and again at 1:1. At 3:3, they scored the first break of the game, and went to hold on to the lead for a 6:4 win. Keeping up the pressure, Sousa and Thiem then broke again in the first game of the second set, then once more at 3:1. Thiem finished off the match with a serve out wide, eliciting a weak response from Duarte, which Sousa attacked with a put-away overhead smash. The pair move on to the second round of the doubles draw with a well-earned 6:4 6:2 victory.
&ldquo;A victory alongside a friend and a partner,&rdquo; said Sousa after the match. &ldquo;We had played before and it was a good game. Very happy about it.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It feels nice,&rdquo; added Thiem. &ldquo;I was happy when Jo&atilde;o asked me and it&rsquo;s also nice that we received the wildcard. It&rsquo;s a first doubles victory in two years or something for me, so a very good day.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing much better now. Last year, [at the Millennium Estoril Open] it was only the third tournament after the injury and I almost couldn&rsquo;t hit a forehand,&rdquo; said Thiem about his recent struggles. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s different. I&rsquo;m just missing a few victories, a little bit of self-confidence, but I&rsquo;m feeling good. I like to play here, and tomorrow it will be a nice match against a fellow Austrian.&rdquo;
Asked about his first round opponent, Sebastian Ofner, Thiem offered: &ldquo;We know each other really well. We practise together, and we are also at the same academy together. It&rsquo;s going to be the third match against him on the Tour,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He's on a great run and he played very well the last few weeks contrary to me, so it&rsquo;s gonna be interesting, and may the better player win,&rdquo; Thiem ended with a smile.
The final match of the day saw qualifier Alessandro Giannessi take on his compatriot, and perhaps the most accomplished player of the first day&rsquo;s singles, Italian Fabio Fognini. Fognini, a former world No 9, won the biggest title of his singles career in 2019 when he went on to lift the prestigious Monte-Carlo Masters trophy, defeating en route then-world No 2 Rafael Nadal. More recently, in February 2023, Fognini showed that he still has what it takes to compete at the very top when he went to three sets with world No 2, Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz. Giannessi, returning to Millennium Estoril Open after a failed qualifying campaign in 2018, hoped to build on his 15 clay court victories this season.
Fognini&rsquo;s wealth of experience showed early in the match. After both players held their opening service games, he went on the offensive and broke for 2:1. Mixing deep groundstrokes with courageous forays to the net, Fognini soon broke again to lead 4:1. Two games later, with the score standing at 5:2, he served the first set out with ease.
In the second set, Fognini cranked up the heat. His groundstrokes &ndash; already fierce &ndash; stung more, he rushed the net with more purpose. After 15 minutes, he had earned himself two breaks and the score stood at 3:0. Giannessi struck back in the next game, breaking Fognini to love, but the resurgence was short-lived, and Fognini made up for the momentary lapse with another break. The onslaught continued, and two games later, Fognini moved on to the second round with a strong 6:2 6:1 performance.
&ldquo;I'm happy with my performance today [which was] very good,&rdquo; said Fognini after the win.
In the second round of the tournament, Fognini will face his compatriot, Marco Cecchinato. &ldquo;It's going to be a very tough match again,&rdquo; he remarked. &ldquo;Because what I won today was a very tough match. Tomorrow I will think about Wednesday's game.&rdquo;
Asked to assess his current form, Fognini added: &ldquo;I am 36, mentally I notice it more, I accept it less, and sometimes I have a little less desire. These are all the things that are part of the cycle of life, and that must be accepted. I am accepting it, because I&rsquo;m training and I&rsquo;m playing very well. I feel very good,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think that if I try to achieve what I did today, from here to Paris, surely I can have fun and achieve the results.
&ldquo;I know I can beat anyone if I'm well.&rdquo;

ENTER THE DRAGONS

Em estreia no maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal, Fabio Fognini (97.&ordm;) ultrapassou o compatriota italiano Alessandro Giannessi, vindo da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o e 224.&ordm; do ranking ATP, com os parciais contundentes de 6-2 e 6-1 em somente 56 minutos.
Sem problemas de maior face a um advers&aacute;rio que conhece bem e se apresentou visivelmente cansado, Fabio Fognini apenas enfrentou um ponto de break no segundo parcial (suficiente para ceder o golpe de sa&iacute;da) e apareceu a bom n&iacute;vel no primeiro dia do quadro principal, desferindo seis quebras de servi&ccedil;o ao opositor e disparando winners por todo o lado.
No encontro de acesso aos quartos de final do Millennium Estoril Open, o credenciado transalpino - antigo nono da hiearquia em 2019, ano no qual adquiriu o Masters 1000 de Monte Carlo derrotando Rafael Nadal nas meias-finais - vai medir for&ccedil;as novamente frente a um advers&aacute;rio do mesmo pa&iacute;s, no caso Marco Cecchinato, ex-top20 que pouco tempo antes bateu Diego Schwartzman em dois sets.
O mano a mano marca tr&ecirc;s vit&oacute;rias para Fognini em quatro compromissos anteriores frente a Cecchinato, todos em terra batida.
&nbsp;
&nbsp;

Fabio Fognini entra a todo o gás no Millennium Estoril Open

Num duelo de luxo entre especialistas de terra batida, Marco Cecchinato (96.&ordm; ATP) derrotou o Diego Schwartzman (36.&ordm; e s&eacute;timo cabe&ccedil;a de s&eacute;rie) na primeira ronda do Millennium Estoril Open por 6-3 e 7-6(8) em 2h04 de encontro.
Semifinalistas de Roland-Garros (Cecchinato em 2018, no qual bateu Novak Djokovic, Schwartzman em 2020), titulares de torneios de terra batida (tr&ecirc;s em cinco finais para o italiano, tr&ecirc;s em oito para o argentino, entre os quais o Rio Open, ATP 500) e dois tenistas carism&aacute;ticos e credenciados (Cecchinato chegou a figurar no 16.&ordm; posto, Schwartzman no oitavo), o embate figurava-se como um dos mais aliciantes da primeira ronda da oitava edi&ccedil;&atilde;o do maior torneio de t&eacute;nis em Portugal.
As expetativas n&atilde;o foram defraudadas, em especial na fase terminal. Marco Cecchinato serviu duas vezes para o triunfo (5-4 e 6-5 do segundo parcial), mas "El Peque"em empurrou a decis&atilde;o para o tie-break com pontos de levantar o Est&aacute;dio Millennium e muito incentivado pela prefer&ecirc;ncia do p&uacute;blico portugu&ecirc;s.
No tie-break, o transalpino disp&ocirc;s de dois match points (anulados de forma brilhante pelo tenista das pampas) e Diego Schwartzman fez uma dupla falta com ponto para levar o duelo a um terceiro set. &Agrave; terceira foi de vez para Cecchinato, ap&oacute;s mais um de muitos amorties.
Esta foi a primeira vit&oacute;ria do tenista de Palermo sobre o popular argetino desde a final de Buenos Aires, em 2019 (depois de tr&ecirc;s derrotas consecutivas), numa altura em que ambos est&atilde;o sedentos de triunfos.

Marco Cecchinato prevalece em duelo de especialistas

Cerca de um ano depois do primeiro t&iacute;tulo da carreira no ATP Tour, Sebastian Baez regressou ao Clubde de T&eacute;nis do Estoril da melhor forma para a defesa do trof&eacute;u. O agora n&uacute;mero um argentino superou o moldavo Radu Albot por d&iacute;ficeis 7-5 e 7-6(3), evitando a muito custo um terceiro set.
Agora no 32.&ordm; posto do ranking ATP - h&aacute; um ano era 59.&ordm; - e j&aacute; com mais uma conquista na bagagem (em C&oacute;rdoba, este ano), Sebastian Baez entrou a comandar com a sua poderosa direita e pareceu confort&aacute;vel nesta revinda a um local onde foi muito feliz, com muito apoio do p&uacute;blico portugu&ecirc;s, em especial dos mais jovens.
No segundo parcial, o tenista de Buenos Aires precisou de anular uma desvantagem que parecia dif&iacute;cil de operar: Radu Albot (106.&ordm;, antigo 39.&ordm;) liderou por 5-2 e disp&ocirc;s de set point a 5-3 (no servi&ccedil;o), mas com alguns erros e o elevar de n&iacute;vel de Baez essa vantagem esfumou-se.&nbsp;
Ainda assim, o quinto pr&eacute;-designado da prova ainda entregou um jogo de servi&ccedil;o a 6-5, a servir para a vit&oacute;ria, mas cedo se recomp&ocirc;s para resolver o duelo em dois sets e em 2h14, para g&aacute;udio dos presentes.
Na segunda ronda, o tenista das pampas vai medir for&ccedil;as frente a um compatriota. No primeiro encontro do quadro principal do Millennium Estoril Open, Pedro Cachin superou Chun-Hsin Tseng por duplo 6-4.
Num embate entre dois vencedores de torneios portugueses - Cachin (67.&ordm;) arrecadou o Oeiras Open de 2021, Tseng (145.&ordm;) o Maia Open de 2022, al&eacute;m de um ITF na P&oacute;voa de Varzim quatro anos antes -, o argetino recuperou de break abaixo em ambos os sets (cedeu sempre o servi&ccedil;o no jogo inaugural de ambos os parciais) e arrecadou os derradeiros quatro jogos do encontro para garantir a primeira vaga na segunda eliminat&oacute;ria.
&nbsp;

Campeão em título regressa com triunfo ao Millennium Estoril Open

O portugu&ecirc;s Jo&atilde;o Sousa e o austr&iacute;aco Dominic Thiem apuraram-se, na tarde desta segunda-feira, para os quartos de final da variante de pares do Millennium Estoril Open ao derrotarem o tamb&eacute;m portugu&ecirc;s Duarte Vale e o norte-americano Ben Shelton num duelo entre duas duplas que receberam&nbsp;wild cards.
O encontro que assinalou a abertura do quadro de pares preencheu totalmente as bancadas do Court Cascais, o segundo maior palco do Clube de T&eacute;nis do Estoril, no qual Sousa e Thiem triunfaram por 6-4 e 6-2 ap&oacute;s 1h09.
Com esta vit&oacute;ria, o portugu&ecirc;s e o austr&iacute;aco apuraram-se para os quartos de final, fase em que ter&atilde;o pela frente os vencedores do confronto entre Marco Cecchinato/Quentin Halys e Gonzalo Escobar/Fabien Reboul.
A aguardar pela estreia est&atilde;o ainda os campe&otilde;es em t&iacute;tulo,&nbsp;Nuno Borges e&nbsp;Francisco Cabral, que iniciar&atilde;o a defesa do trof&eacute;u conquistado h&aacute; um ano contra Romain Arneodo e Sam Weissborn.
&nbsp;

João Sousa nos quartos de final de pares ao lado de Dominic Thiem

Depois das emo&ccedil;&otilde;es da fase de qualifica&ccedil;&atilde;o &ndash; e das enchentes do primeiro fim de semana -, a prova passa para a competi&ccedil;&atilde;o principal.
E apesar dos quatro portugueses do quadro maior s&oacute; pisarem a terra batida na ter&ccedil;a-feira, n&atilde;o faltam motivos de interesse nesta segunda-feira. Desde logo regressa Sebastian Baez, campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo da maior competi&ccedil;&atilde;o de t&eacute;nis nacional. O agora n&uacute;mero um argentino come&ccedil;a a defesa do primeiro trof&eacute;u da carreira (este ano aumentou o palmar&eacute;s no seu pa&iacute;s, em C&oacute;rdoba) diante do moldavo Radu Albot.
O segundo tenista mais cotado de momento das pampas &eacute; o mais credenciado e, ao contr&aacute;rio do compatriota, faz mesmo a estreia no Estoril. Diego Schwartzman j&aacute; foi oitavo da hierarquia, possui quatro t&iacute;tulos em 14 finais no ATP Tour e j&aacute; disputou as meias-finais no maior torneio de terra batida no mundo, em Roland-Garros.
E se as credenciais de &lsquo;El Peque&rsquo; no p&oacute; de tijolo s&atilde;o conhecidas, as do seu opositor n&atilde;o ficam muito atr&aacute;s. Marco Cecchinato j&aacute; foi igualmente semifinalista em Paris, esteve no top 20, &eacute; dotado de uma das esquerdas a uma m&atilde;o mais bonitas do circuito e at&eacute; j&aacute; venceu em Portugal &ndash; &eacute; o campe&atilde;o em t&iacute;tulo da prova do ATP Challenger Tour que se realiza no Club Internacional de Foot-Ball (CIF).
Fabio Fognini &eacute; outro dos &ldquo;catedr&aacute;ticos&rdquo; em jogo. Antigo nono classificado do ranking, o carism&aacute;tico italiano j&aacute; disputou 19 finais e entre os nove trof&eacute;us conquistados destaca-se o Masters 1000 de Monte-Carlo, em 2019, um dos maiores t&iacute;tulos do mundo na superf&iacute;cie, no qual derrotou Rafael Nadal.
O &uacute;nico duelo fora do Est&aacute;dio Millennium vai dividir as prefer&ecirc;ncias dos presentes. Os portugueses Jo&atilde;o Sousa e Duarte Vale v&atilde;o atuar ao lado de parceiros de respeito: Sousa emparceira com Dominic Thiem, campe&atilde;o do US Open de 2020, e Vale reedita a dupla formada na Universidade da Florida com Ben Shelton &mdash; ainda a dar os primeiros passos no circuito, mas j&aacute; com provas dadas este ano, ao atingir os quartos de final no Australian Open e entrar no top 40.

Destaques