Estoril Open 2007 News and Events

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who clinched the 2003 title and was beaten in last year’s final, will begin his campaign against a qualifier at the Estoril Open.

The Russian, currently No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, beat Agustin Calleri for the 2003 crown and lost out to David Nalbandian in the 2006 title-match.

He first appeared at the clay-court tournament in 2001, when he lost to Karol Kucera in the first round.

This year, Davydenko has a 17-10-match record this year with a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals (l. to Haas) in January. He has also reached semifinals in Doha (l. to Murray) and Rotterdam (l. to Ljubicic) on the ATP circuit.

Second-seeded Tommy Robredo, a wild card entry, currently No. 5 in the ATP Rankings, will tackle fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes in his opening match.

Robredo leads Montanes 2-0 in their career series, with victories at Mallorca in 2001 and Palermo two years ago.

Robredo finished runner-up to Gaston Gaudio in the 2005 Estoril final.

This week he will be aiming to capture his first ATP title since Bastad in July 2006. The 24-year-old is 16-9 for the year, highlighted by a final appearance in Auckland (l. to Ferrer).

Serbian Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 seed, has been drawn against Russian Igor Andreev for the first time. Both players are competing in Estoril for the first time.

World No. 6 Djokovic, who has won two ATP titles at ATP Masters Series Miami and Adelaide this year, has a 26-6 match record.

The fourth Top 10 player, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile faces France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu in the fourth round. The pair met at ATP Masters Series Miami in March.

Gonzalez returns to the tournament for the first time since 2003, when he lost to Calleri in the quarterfinals.

The 26-year-old reached his maiden Grand Slam final at the Australian Open (l. to Federer) in January.

France’s Richard Gasquet, currently No. 15 in the ATP Rankings and this week’s No. 5 seed, will meet Max Mirnyi of Belarus for the second time.

Gasquet lost in the 2004 second round to Rafael Nadal, while Mirnyi is a veteran of three Estoril campaigns. “The Beast” reached the 2002 quarterfinals on debut (l. to Moya) and the 2003 semifinals (l. to Davydenko).

Sixth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, who wrote a series of memorable blogs for ATPtennis.com at the tournament last year, challenges Florent Serra of France.

Argentine Calleri, the 2003 runner-up, will play Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, while No. 8 seed Gael Monfils of France meets Juan Monaco of Argentina – this year’s Buenos Aires champion (d. di Mauro).

WOMEN'S DRAW ATTRACTS EIGHT TOP 50 PLAYERS

Eight players in the Top 50 of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour compete at the Estoril Open, offering $145,000 total prize money.

Top-seeded Marion Bartoli of France will meet Portuguese wild card Neuza Silva in the first round, while No. 2 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy faces Croatian Ivana Lisjak first up.

Two former champions, Lucie Safarova, the 2005 winner, and Emilie Loit, the 2004 titlist, are also seeded.

Tournament director Joao Lagos, ATP Supervisor Carlos Sanches, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Supervisor Tony Cho and Russian player Maria Kirilenko presided over the draw ceremony.