Stefanos Tsitsipas to chase title defense in Estoril

Portugal Open joined the ATP Tour in 1990, staying at the Estadio 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 there in the past and the tournament has survived to welcome future great champions, moving to the Clube de Tenis do Estoril in Cascais in 2015 and settling there for the years to come. The next edition will take place between April 27 - May 3, and the organizers have already revealed the first players who will fight for the title, with the home star Joao Sousa and the young gun Felix Auger-Aliassime signing to play in Estoril.

Besides them, the defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas has also been confirmed, returning to the court where he claimed the first and so far the only ATP title on clay last spring. Tsitsipas was ranked 10th when he conquered the Millennium Estoril Open, making a strong start of the season with the semi-final at the Australian Open, the title in Marseille and the final in Dubai. The young Greek kicked off the action in Estoril with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Guido Andreozzi, ousting Joao Domingues in the next round and coming from a set down versus David Goffin to reach the final where he defeated Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6 for the third ATP crown overall. In the following week, Stefanos carried this momentum to Madrid, advancing into the final following a win over Rafael Nadal and losing it to Novak Djokovic in straight sets.

Tsitsipas was also the semi-finalist in Rome, heading to Roland Garros where he and Stan Wawrinka played one of the best matches of the season, with the Swiss prevailing 8-6 in the deciding set after an epic battle. Besides the semi-final in Washington, his results were not that good after the clay swing, finding the form again in Beijing, Shanghai, Basel and Paris to secure the place at the ATP Finals where he scored four wins to clinch the biggest title in a career and enter the top-6. Stefanos is yet to find the form in 2020, hoping to change that in Marseille, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami ahead of another packed spring on clay, signing to play in Barcelona as well among those most significant events. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/37B1702