The main draw of the Millennium Estoril Open kicks off this Monday. In a total of seven matches, three will be doubles and four will be singles. There are no seeds placed on the schedule.
Stadium Millennium
[PR] Tommy Robredo vs. Evgeny Donskoy
The action on the Stadium Millennium begins at 1 pm GMT. The first match on the centre court will oppose Tommy Robredo and Evgeny Donskoy. Robredo used his protected ranking to get in the draw after being a lot of time with an elbow injury. This season he has a win-loss record of 4-7, with his four wins being over Grigor Dimitrov, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Nikoloz Basilashvili and Fabio Fognini. He's currently on a three-match losing streak. Otherwise, Evgeny Donskoy has a win-loss record of 19-13, this season and it's the only player to defeat Roger Federer this year. The Russian player reached the quarterfinals in Dubai, reached the second round in Marseille and won an ATP Challenger Tour title in Zhuhai. They never faced each other before.
Prediction: Evgeny Donskoy in 3 sets.
Gastão Elias vs. Malek Jaziri
Gastão Elias and Malek Jaziri feature the second match of the day on centre court. The Portuguese player has a win-loss record 10-10 this season, in which he reached the final in the Challenger of Barletta, the second round in São Paulo and the second round in Sydney after surpassing the qualifying and losing to Dominic Thiem in three tight sets. Jaziri has a very similar win-loss record to Gastão, winning 10 matches and losing 11 this year. The highlights of the Tunisian's season are the third round in Miami, the second round in Indian Wells and the third round at the Australian Open. Gastão Elias leads their head-to-head 2-0, but they only played on the ITF Pro Circuit in 2011.
Prediction: Gastão Elias in 3 sets.
[WC] Frederico Ferreira Silva vs. Denis Istomin
Frederico Silva and Denis Istomin close the single sessions o the Stadium Millennium. The Portuguese is a former junior world top-10 and the former 231st on ATP. This season his win-loss record is 13-8 but he played mainly on the ITF Pro Circuit due to his recent comeback from injury. The best moment of the season for him is the second round in Bangkok, an ATP Challenger Tour tournament. Denis Istomin is 9-8 this year and is on a four-match losing streak. The Uzbek defeated Novak Djokovic this year en route to the Australian Open fourth round, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. He qualified for Dubai and reached the second round in Rotterdam. Istomin also played the Bangkok Challenger and lost in the second round to the player who beat Frederico Silva the week after. They never faced each other in the past.
Prediction: Denis Istomin in 2 sets.
Kyle Edmund/João Sousa vs. Nicolas Almagro/Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
They never met before. Kyle and João are joining forces for the first time and it's a situation to repeat several times this season, says João Sousa's coach to the Portuguese newspaper "A Bola".
Prediction: Kyle Edmund/João Sousa in 3 sets.
Court Cascais
The first match of the day on Court Cascais is a doubles match, followed by another one and then a singles match. The play starts at 12 o'clock.
[1]Sam Groth/Robert Lindstedt vs. Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus
Prediction: Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus in 3 sets.
Carlos Berlocq/Sergio Galdos vs. Ernesto Escobedo/Fabricio Neis
Prediction: Ernesto Escobedo/Fabricio Neis
[Q] Salvatore Caruso vs. Kevin Anderson
Closing the session in this court, Salvatore Caruso and Kevin Anderson are playing fo a place in the second round. Caruso is having a good season. Actually, he has a win-loss record of 23-12 this year and won two straight ITF 25.000$ titles. He passed through the qualifying without losing any set. Kevin Anderson is a former world top-10 and reached the third round in Barcelona last week, losing only to Rafael Nadal, the eventual champion. He reached the second round in Indian Wells and Miami. They never faced each other before.
Prediction: Kevin Anderson in 2 sets.