Estoril Open 2004 News and Events

Radek Stepanek
© João Lagos Sports

Defending champion Nikolay Davydenko was sent crashing out in the first round of the Estoril Open after suffering a straight sets defeat at the hands of Radek Stepanek on Monday.

Stepanek continued his good form from the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami, where he reached the third round, and stunned the Russian with a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory in 1 hour, 38 minutes.

It was Stepanek's first victory over Davydenko in their three meetings, having lost the last time they played in the Davis Cup World Group first round in 2003 on clay.

"I beat the defending champion from last year and I think that today the conditions were tough for both of us," said a delighted Stepanek. "It was our first match on clay so the tennis was not that pretty. But I'm pretty with the happy with the win because I remember the Davis Cup from last year when it was two sets all and I lost 6-0 in the fifth set, so this one was payback time."

Davydenko, who defeated Agustin Calleri to capture his second career ATP title in Estoril 12 months ago, is now 3-9 in 2004.

"It was the first tournament on clay for me this year, but it was just a really bad day," said a disappointed Davydenko. "I never thought going into the match that I was going to lose, and even during the match I still thought I should be winning, but it was a bad day for me. It was difficult for me to play my game. It's really difficult for me to say what happened."

The 25-year-old Stepanek will now meet either Gaston Gaudio, the No. 7 seed, or German qualifier Florian Mayer in the second round. Mayer, the 20-year-old who reached the second round of the Australian Open earlier this year and won the Challenger title in Mexico City in March, qualified for his third ATP main draw this week.

Monday's other first round men's matches included two all-French duels as Olivier Patience defeated Julien Boutter in three sets while Thierry Ascione overcame Milan winner Antony Dupuis 7-6(5), 6-0.

In women's first round action, Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France defeated Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-0 to set up a potential meeting with second seed Alicia Molik, while Martina Sucha of the Slovak Republic overcame Suzana Ondraskova.