The Portuguese gave a special color to the start of the 8th edition of the Millennium Estoril Open, which started today in Clube de Ténis do Estoril. Henrique Rocha, Frederico Silva and Pedro Sousa gave an authentic tennis lesson and defeated the most valued opponents in the arrangement world and passing first round of the qualifying phase.
At only 18 years old, Henrique Rocha defeated Briton Ryan Penistan (6-4, 6-1) and made his debut with a victory that is also his first victory in ATP tournaments. On Sunday he will face Mate Valkusz. Frederico Silva also added a triumph against the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (6-1,5-7 and 6-3) and plays together with Sebastian Ofner.
Pedro Sousa made an epic comeback against Jozef Kovalik (4-6, 7-5 and 6-3) and scheduled a meeting with Timofey Skatov on Sunday. “It was a tough match, I never felt so good and the wind was not easy. I held on even though I lost. It was a tough match for me because this will be my last Estoril Open and I wanted to compete. I have had my son in the stands and I took what I could. The crowd helped a lot and that whole mix made me recover,” confessed the player, who will try to play the Estoril Open for the eighth and last time.
The meeting with Skatov will depend on whether or not the tournament goes ahead, but it will not prevent a tearful farewell announced today. The 35-year-old tennis player is one of the best Portuguese players of all time and will retire in two weeks: “The idea would be to finish at the Lisbon Belém Open. [no seu clube, o CIF]but I’m not coming [é em outubro]. So basically I should finish at the Oeiras Open 125, with Jamor.”
The trio can thus join Nuno Borges and João Sousa, who met their opponents for the opening round of the Estoril Open yesterday. Borges (68th on the ATP ranking) arrives for the first time at the tournament as national number 1 and starts with Quentin Halys (79th), while Sousa (156th), the 2018 champion, starts against Giulio Zeppieri (124th).
The draw puts the two Portuguese on the same side in the main frame, allowing them to meet in the semi-finals.
Memories of Ruud in Braga
Casper Ruud will make his debut in Estoril, but the connection to Portugal comes from behind. In 2018, the current number 4 in the ATP ranking and first seed at the Estoril Open lost the Challenger de Braga… to Pedro Sousa. “When I see Pedro I think of that final and we also played in my first ATP final in Buenos Aires. I’m glad I won it and he won it in Braga (laughs). But it’s great to be here .” , the Norwegian recalled, praising the new Portuguese talents such as Nuno Borges.
“You can see that they are doing a good job in Portugal. It is also impressive to see João Sousa achieve such good results in the ATP Tour. Portugal is not the biggest tennis country like Norway, and when someone from a small country does well, it inspires me.”, Ruud confessed that he may have João Sousa as his first opponent… if the Guimarães get through the first round.
Source: DN
