The 2016 Estoril Open marks the continuation of a new identity for this tournament. It used to be the Portugal Open, held in Oeiras, Portugal, in an old facility at the Estadio Nacional do Jamor, and the Estadio Central, one of the most classically elegant and beautiful show courts in the world. Now, it’s at the Clube de Tenis in Cascais, Portugal, a newer venue with new sponsorships and the ability to move forward as Portugal’s ATP Tour stop each year.
The competition in the 28-player main draw began on Monday, April 25.
Event Details
Event: Estoril Open
Category: ATP 250 Series
Date: April 25 – 30, 2016
Location: Clube de Tenis do Estoril – Cascais, Portugal
With a prize money allotment of 439,405 Euros, the purse is a little bit lower than other iterations of an ATP 250 tournament. It’s hard to command too much attention and top players when the Madrid Masters are just around the corner, starting the following week when the month of May begins and the lead-up to the French Open intensifies. That’s why you aren’t going to see many of the bigger players in the world attending this event. With a small prize and a small pot of points, it’s just not that big of a draw. However, the location itself is a beautiful one in the country of Portugal, so that’s a plus.
This tournament is definitely in an in-between position on the tour calendar, and only if top players were previously injured – to the point that they’d need extra match play – would they come to Portugal to play. That’s just the way it is.
The points structure in a 250-point tournament offers 250 points towards the winner’s ranking. A runner-up finish is worth 150 points. A semifinal result is 90 points, and a quarterfinal appearance offers 45 points.
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2015 – Richard Gasquet def. Nick Kyrgios – 6-3, 6-2
As the Portugal Open:
2014 – Carlos Berlocq def. Tomas Berdych – 0-6, 7-5, 6-1
2013 – Stan Wawrinka def. David Ferrer – 6-1, 6-4
2012 – Juan Martin del Potro def. Richard Gasquet – 6-4, 6-2
2011 – Albert Montanes def. Federico Gil – 6-2, 6-7, 7-5
Player Info:
Gilles Simon, ranked 18 in the world (it could be different on Monday), is the top seed. Nick Kyrgios, Benoit Paire, and Joao Sousa get byes as the rest of the top four seeds. As you can see here, we’re not expecting a who’s who of the tennis world. We’re not even going to see anyone in the Top 15. If you’re a betting man, clearly the players like Simon and Kyrgios are going to be the headline acts but should either of them faulter, which is a distinct possibility, it will open the door for some lesser-known players to make some money.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Borna Coric, Leonardo Mayer, and Pablo Carreno Busta round out the top eight seeds.
Pullouts from the tournament include Gilles Muller, Tommy Robredo, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Dmitry Tursunov. They will be replaced by Rogerio Dutra Silva, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Gastao Elias, and Benjamin Becker. It’s definitely disappointing not to see someone like Tsonga as he’d be among the tournament favorites here had he decided not to pull out from this tournament.
Fernando Verdasco gained a wild card to this event. He will be a dangerous floater in the draw. Simon and Kyrgios, on opposite sides of the draw, should like their chances to go deep in this tournament.
Clube de Tenis do Estoril
The Clube de Tenis do Estoril is in its second year of playing host to this tournament, so it’s not as if we have a long history to work with when it comes to handicapping this event. It’s only in its infancy because this is the result of the clash between modernity and history in sports. The new stadium might not have the charms of the old one, but it facilitates the generation of revenue and is therefore necessary to an event’s survival. Without the new facility, who knows if this tournament would even still exist. It’s a sobering thought, but a necessary one. It should be a fun event this week in Portugal.
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