Estoril Open 2005 News and Events

Joachim Johansson at the draw
© João Lagos Sports

Top seed Carlos Moya returns to Estoril for the first time since 2002 looking to capture his second title of the season (Chennai). The Spaniard, who won the title at the Estadio Nacional in 2000 (d. Clavet), has a 14-4 record in the tournament having also reached the semifinals in 1998 (l. to Berasategui) and on his last appearance in 2002 (l. to Nalbandian). In the first round, Moya will meet fellow Spaniard Felix Mantilla - a finalist in Estoril in 2001 - with a potential second round meeting with Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Ferrero, like Moya a former World No. 1, also won the Estoril Open in 2001. In what will be his fourth appearance in the tournament, Ferrero will meet Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the first round as he hopes to continue the recent form that took him to the semifinals of the Masters Series Monte-Carlo and the final in Barcelona last week.

Following the withdrawal of No. 6 seed Radek Stepanek due to a hamstring injury, defending champion Juan Ignacio Chela becomes the No. 9 seed and will take Stepanek's spot in the draw. It means Chela will now meet a qualifier in his opening match, with a potential second round meeting against fellow Argentine Agustin Calleri, the 2003 Estoril Open runner-up. Calleri takes on Portuguese wild card Rui Machado in his opening match.

Olympic champion Nicolas Massu, the No. 5 seed, is making his second appearance in Estoril having lost to Richard Gasquet in the first round last year. Massu, who has played just two tournaments so far this year (Australian Open, Houston) after suffering from a foot injury, takes on former champion Albert Costa in the first round. Costa, who won the title in Estoril in 1999 and reached the final four years earlier, is one of four Roland Garros champions in the field this year alongside Moya, Ferrero and Gaston Gaudio.

Gaudio, the No. 2 seed who won the Estoril Open doubles title with singles champion Chela last year, opens his campaign for a third title of the year (Vina del Mar, Buenos Aires) against Czech Jan Hernych.
In the quarterfinals, he could face a meeting with either No. 8 seed Felciano Lopez or former champion Alex Corretja, the 1997 winner who received a wild card into this year's tournament. This will be Corretja's first appearance in Estoril since he won the title eight years ago.

Also in the bottom half of the draw, third seed Joachim Johansson returns from wisdom tooth surgery to face Spain's Alex Calatrava. Johansson has won two titles this year in Adelaide and Marseille.

In the women's draw, top seed Flavio Pennetta will take on a qualifier following the withdrawal of Germany's Sandra Kloesel, while second seed Dinara Safina will meet Claudine Schaul in her opening match.