2019 ATP Estoril

Estoril Open Semifinals: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Pablo Cuevas book finals places
Manuel Traquete, Tennis Atlantic

Just like the quarterfinals, long, hard-fought battles with a lot of twists and turns were the dominant theme on semifinal Saturday. Eventually, both favorites advanced to contest tomorrow’s final but not without overcoming great adversity first.

In the first semifinal David Goffin vs Stefanos Tsitsipas, Goffin started up great, playing his best tennis of the year to win the first set 6-3 with two breaks. He was moving Tsitsipas around the court with ease and firing winners at will. The second set, however, saw the match take a very unexpected turn, not because Tsitsipas won but because 7 of the 10 games were breaks of serve, including 7 of the first 8, something incredibly atypical in an ATP match. At the end of the second, 56 points had been won by the server in the match and 56 by the returner as well. It was Tsitsipas who emerged victorious of this peculiar situation, with Goffin repeatedly missing forehands on important, a trend that continued in the third set, where Goffin look better and closer to victory for the most part but kept making terrible errors in the most important points while Tsitsipas hang tough and sneaked a decisive late break. Losing in this fashion won’t do any good to Goffin’s continually waning confidence but at least the level is still there. Tsitsipas on the other hand showed why he’s now a top 10 player, winning despite getting dominated for large portions of the match, and will play for his second title of the year tomorrow.

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The second semifinal was also a very tight and hard fought contest… at first at least. Alejandro Dadidovich Fokina won a very tight first set by coming through in the clutch but he got broken at 2-3 in the second set in what was the point of the tournament, featuring an impossible Pablo Cuevas no-look smash retrieval. In his frustration, Fokina sent the ball to the crowd, seemingly injured himself in the process and was never the same again. Cuevas would only lose 2 more games the entire match; Fokina won some good points, but looked to be struggling physically, cramping to the finish line. It was still a good week for him, coming all the way through qualifiers and showing he has what it takes to rise up the rankings quickly in the coming years.

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In the final, Tsitsipas is a clear favorite, being the far superior player overall. But these 250 clay tournaments are where Cuevas makes his living and he will definitely be a very tough nut to crack. Whoever wins will become a new champion in Estoril.

Estoril Open QF day: Stefanos Tsitsipas beats local hero, battles to the finish on center court
Manuel Traquete, Tennis Atlantic

Friday was a very long day at the Estoril Open, with every match being long and tightly contested until the end. The day began with fast rising Stefanos Tsitsipas taking on local hero João Domingues. While Tsitsipas winning came as a surprise to no one, the manner in which he did might have. Domingues put up an incredible fight and was unlikely not take at least a set. He was bold, aggressive and was hitting great shots. He broke early and has 30-0 when serving for the first set, but couldn’t close it. He had already been close to beating Kevin Anderson at this same venue 2 years ago, but just like then he couldn’t get the big win with his opponent’s superior experience and pedigree coming through in the end.

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Tsitsipas’s opponent will be David Goffin, who won a very long and tense match against Jaziri. He started strong and took an early break only to give it away and lose the first set 4-6; he was up a double break on two occasions in the second set, including at 5-2, but once again just couldn’t capitalize and only barely eeked out a tiebreak to then barely sweat in the deciding set. Goffin’s level was far from good and incredibly far from the one that took him as high as #7 in the world less than 2 years ago. Winning in this manner might be what he needs to start regaining his lost confidence. Beating Tsitsipas in the semifinal would of course go even further towards it, but it’s a difficult bet for anyone to made judging by their respective levels so far this year.

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The second semifinal will be played between the two night session winners: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Pablo Cuevas. Davidovich Fokina won a pulsating match against Gael Monfils, which had the crowd on their feet on many occasions such was the spectacle produced by Monfils’s athleticism and Dadivovich’s shotmaking talent. At several stages, Monfiils look like he had it, with Fokina looking tired and making a lot of double faults, but in the end the young Spaniard got his scalp with Monfils getting a somewhat disappointing result in his return to the ATP tour after being sidelined due to injuries for a few weeks ago. Monfils still leaves Estoril as a massive fan favorite, with the entire stadium pulling for him and collective disappointment when he was eliminated.

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Fokina’s semifinal opponent will be Pablo Cuevas, a veteran of the clay circuit who just keeps going on against all odds. Tiafoe may have made the final last year, but he looked totally out of his depth for the majority of this one, with the second set win really not accurately portraying just how (not) close the match was. Sets 1 and 3 were pretty straightforward with Tiafoe barely able to win points for long stretches. His effort was admirable but ultimately Cuevas is simply the better player in this sort of conditions.

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If the semifinals and finals bring half as excitement as the quarterfinals, the fans are in for a treat this weekend as these four players each try to capture their first ever Estoril title.