The first day of the Millennium Estoril Open started with some qualifying matches. Ernesto Escobedo and Andrey Rublev led the players' field and another big name in the draw is Ernests Gulbis, a former ATP top-10 player.
Stadium Millennium
The first match of the day on Centre Court (Stadium Millennium) was played between Elias Ymer and João Monteiro, a Portuguese wild card ranked 467th in the world. It was a tough match for the eighth seed Ymer who battled an inspired Monteiro, but after two hours and 55 minutes of action, it was the Swede won came out on top, winning 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4.
Playing against the Portuguese João Domingues, Ernests Gulbis, the seventh seed and currently ranked 169th in the world, retired when he was down 6-1. The Latvian lost the first set and was barely moving in the match that lasted just over 20 minutes.
The last match on this court was played by Gonçalo Oliveira and Inigo Cervantes. The Portuguese wild card won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3, after an hour and 18 minutes on the court.
Court Cascais
Top seed Ernesto Escobedo was able to pass trough to the last round of the qualifying after a three-set win over Nicolas Jarry in two hours and 14 minutes, with the American winning, 6-7(3), 6-4., 6-4.
Following Escobedo and Jarry, Enrique Lopez-Perez played against Bjorn Fratangelo and it was the American fought and conquered his place on the last round of the qualifying, defeating the Spaniard, 3-6, 7-6(0), 6-4.
To finish the action of the first day, Andrey Rublev and Sam Groth had a tough battle but Rublev was able to pass through to the last round o qualifying with a comfortable 6-2, 7-6(4) win.
Court 3
In the smallest playing court, the fourth seed Kenny De Schepper defeated his compatriot Tristan Lamasine by a score of 7-6(5), 6-2 in exactly 90 minutes.
On the other hand, Salvatore Caruso dispatched Federico Gaio in straight sets. In a match between compatriots, Caruso needed less than an hour to win 6-1, 6-2.
Tomorrow
The first players to step on the court tomorrow will be Ernesto Escobedo and Elias Ymer on Court Cascais, who will be followed by Andrey Rublev and Bjorn Fratangelo.
The action on Stadium Millennium kicks at 1 p.m. local time with Kenny De Schepper and Salvatore Caruso. To finish the day, João Domingues and Gonçalo Oliveira hit the court for an all-Portuguese duel.