Tuesday 1st May, a national holiday in Portugal and a packed session for the only Portuguese tournament in the ATP World Tour. The crowd went wild on the venue by having the chance to take an autograph from Lleyton Hewitt and Alex De Minaur, as well as by having the chance to see the number one Portuguese, João Sousa, getting his first victory here.
Estádio Millennium
Simone Bolelli started the day in the best way possible by defeating the local player João Domingues in front of his home crowd. This was a duel between two qualifiers who were meeting for the first time in their careers. Bolelli did not enter an ATP World Tour tournament main draw since Stockholm, in October 2017, and he never played at the Millennium Estoril Open before. He is continuing his good momentum as he is 14-5 this season at the moment. The Italian defeated Domingues in straight sets 6-3 6-2 and he is yet to lose a set here, after passing through the qualifying without losing one.
João Sousa was the delight of the crowd. The first Portuguese on the ATP ranking took his chances and conquered his first singles win at this event. He ousted Daniil Medvedev in two tight sets 7-6(1) 7-5. It was a very nice battle to watch between the two top-70 players.
Stefanos Tsitsipas was a finalist in Barcelona two days ago but he is already making some good memories in Estoril. The Greek player defeated Pablo Andujar in straight sets 7-6(2) 6-3 in 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Gastão Elias/Pedro Sousa outlasted two doubles specialists Jonathan Erlich/Scott Lipsky in the last match of the journey. They won 2-6 6-2 [11-9] in the match tie-break and needed four match points to conclude the victory.
Court Cascais
The first match of the Court Cascais was played between Alex De Minaur/Lleyton Hewitt and Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus. The double composed by the former singles world number one and the ATP NextGen star won in straight sets 6-4 6-4. They defeated the second seeds and this is the first time they play together. The crowd loves the Aussies and almost didn't let them get out of court with so much photo requests and autographs.
Following the doubles action, there were singles matches. Ricardo Ojeda Lara, a qualifier, defeated Frederico Silva, a wildcard to guarantee a place in the second round. The match lasted 1 hour and 37 minutes and had the final score of 6-4 7-5 to the Spanish.
Federico Delbonis ousted the fifth seed Alberto Ramos Vinolas in the first round. The Argentinean dispatched his opponent in straight sets 6-2 6-4.
Nicolas Jarry surprised the seventh seed Leonardo Mayer by defeating him in three sets which lasted 2 hours and 16 minutes. Jarry has been having quite a good season and keeps making the most of his tennis. He won 3-6 7-6(7) 6-4 and saved six match points in his route to the victory.
Court 3
Roberto Carballes Baena and Bjorn Fratangelo open the session on 3. Carballes Baena won 7-6(1) 6-3 and is now in the second round. It was a tough match for the Spanish who saved eight break points.
Nicolas Kicker has reached the second round of an ATP World Tour event for the second time in one month. He defeated Tim Smyczek in two sets 6-2 6-2. Kicker is now 8-10 this season and will meet tournament's first seed, Pablo Carreño Busta.
Cameron Norrie won in doubles yesterday and today he defeated the singles sixth seed, Robin Haase. He made an outstanding performance to take a ticket into the second round. The British athlete won 6-4 3-6 6-3 in the last match of the Court 3.
Wednesday order of play
The matches start at 12 pm GMT in Court Cascais and Court 3 but on these courts, there are only doubles matches tomorrow.
Estádio Millennium
The play starts at 1 pm GMT with Kyle Edmund facing Alex De Minaur in their first career meeting.
The second match on Estádio Millennium is the most expected one for the Portuguese people. This duel will define which Portuguese and which Sousa books a spot in the quarterfinals. Either João Sousa or Pedro Sousa, one will make the first singles quarterfinals at the Millennium Estoril Open. They faced each other three times before, all in clay courts, and João Sousa leads the head to head 3-0.
Frances Tiafoe and Gilles Muller will face each other in the first match of the night session. This is the most wanted match of the day by the American people. Tiafoe and the fourth seed have never met before.
Federico Delbonis, who ousted Albert Ramos Vinolas, will challenge Simone Bolelli to see who reaches the quarterfinals. In their second meeting ever they are closing the night session and they are the last match to be played on Wednesday. They met in Winston-Salem three years ago and Bolelli won 6-4 6-3.
Court Cascais
There is four doubles match in Court Cascais and none in singles. The first seeds John Peers/Jean-Julien Rojer will face Guillermo Duran/Andres Molteni.
Followed by the first seeds we'll have Robin Haase/Matwe Middelkoop fighting against Marcelo Demoliner/Santiago Gonzalez, the fourth best team in the tournament.
After them, we have Jonathan Eysseric/Joe Salisbury versus Sander Arends/Adil Shamasdin.
To close the session on the secondary court there will be a match in which there are US Open doubles quarterfinalists. They are Leonardo Mayer/João Sousa, who are going to face Ariel Behar/Miguel Angel Reyes Varela.
Court 3
There is only one match on the smaller court of the Millennium Estoril Open which will oppose Marc Lopez/David Marrero, the third seeds, to Wesley Koolhof/Artem Sitak. Lopez won the title in Barcelona last week.
Check the order of play:
