Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov (163), after losing in qualifying at the ATP-250 tournament in Portugal, became a lucky loser and won his first main-draw match. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Our tennis player defeated Dutchman Jesper de Jong (98) in 2.5 hours – 1:6, 6:4, 6:3.
In the first qualifying round, Kazakhstan's third racket beat Portuguese Joao Domingues (601) – 6:4, 6:7 (5:7), 6:4. In the second round, he lost to Spaniard Pedro Martinez (159) – 3:6, 2:6.
After Briton Jan Choinski (90) withdrew due to illness, his main-draw spot went to Skatov, who received lucky loser status.
In the first set, the match between the Kazakh and the Dutchman was not competitive – 1:6. Skatov played the second set much more confidently. Making three breaks against two for Jesper, Timofey won 6:4. At the start of the deciding set, the Kazakh simply swept his opponent. Leading 5:0, Timofey relaxed a bit and lost three games in a row. But on his second attempt, he successfully served out the match – 1:6, 6:4, 6:3. The ace count is curious – 15:0 in favor of the loser. Total points won – 88:87 in favor of the Kazakh.
With the victory, Skatov advanced to face the tournament favorite. Russian Andrey Rublev (14) is seeded first in Estoril.
The Estoril Open tennis tournament in Portugal, sponsored as the Millenium Estoril Open, has been held since 2015. Last year, the tournament regained its ATP-250 category. Its prize fund is €612,500.
Among the tournament's winners are Frenchman Richard Gasquet, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, Norwegian Casper Ruud, and others.
In 2024, the doubles title was won by Kazakhstan's Alexander Nedovesov and Ecuador's Gonzalo Escobar.