Estoril Open 2007 News and Events

Spaniards Albert Montanes and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo came through to win the longest Match Tie-break since the inception of the ATP doubles scoring format in January 2006 on Thursday.

Montanes and Ramirez-Hidalgo beat No. 2 seeds Simon Aspelin and Frantisek Cermak 7-6(2), 6-1, 23-21 (Match TB) in one hour and 46 minutes for a place in the Estoril Open quarterfinals.

Montanes and Hidalgo saved eight match points in the Match Tie-break, while Aspelin and Cermak dropped six match points in total.

The result beats the previous record set in the Round Robin stages of the ARAG ATP World Team Championships in Düsseldorf almost one year ago, when Croatian squad Mario Ancic and Ivo Karlovic defeated Paul Capdeville and Adrian Garcia 7-5, 4-6, 17-15 (Match TB).

Montanes and Hidalgo will next meet Jeff Coetzee and Rogier Wassen, who knocked out James Auckland and Stephen Huss 6-0, 6-3.

Earlier in the day, top-seeded Polish duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski advanced to the quarterfinals after a 7-5, 5-7, 10-5 (Match TB) win in 93 minutes over Igor Kunitsyn and Sergio Roitman.