Former champion takes Estoril Open wild card after slow start of the season
Portugal Open joined the ATP Tour in 1990, staged at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor in Oeiras until 2014 when it lost the license due to lack of sponsors. Sergi Bruguera, Carlos Costa, Thomas Muster, Alex Corretja, Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Stan Wawrinka have all won the title here in the past and the tournament managed to survive, moving to the Clube de Ténis do Estoril in Cascais in 2015 where it found the perfect home. Richard Gasquet, Nicolas Almagro, Pablo Carreno Busta and the home favorite Joao Sousa claimed the titles in Estoril and only the latest champion was on the entry list for the 2019 edition that will take place between April 29 - May 5.
That all changed on Wednesday when the organizers announced Pablo Carreno Busta as the second player with a wild card after Pedro Sousa, entering Portugal Open for the fifth straight year and joining other top-30 players as one of the seeds. Pablo has decided to change his plans and add Estoril to his calendar, scoring 13 wins in 16 matches there and never losing before the semi-final. Nick Kyrgios defeated him in the semi-final in 2015 after three commanding triumphs in the previous rounds, returning stronger in 2016 when Nicolas Almagro took him down in the title match after nearly three hours of fantastic battle.
Two years ago, Pablo was the player to beat in Estoril, ousting Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Almagro, David Ferrer and Gilles Muller to claim the third and so far the last ATP title, dropping the semi-final clash to Frances Tiafoe a year ago and hoping for another good run in a few weeks. Carreno Busta has played just seven matches so far in 2019, suffering a shoulder injury in Cordoba and not playing since, skipping a lot of tournaments and barely staying in the top-30.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Inil80
No comments