Estoril Open 2003 News and Events

Max Mirnyi
© ATP

Fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez and No. 7 seed Max Mirnyi both narrowly avoided the same fate suffered by top seeds Jiri Novak and Rainer Schuettler after both players came through three-set matches on Tuesday.

Gonzalez, playing in Estoril for the first time, overcame talented Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 on court Central to earn a second round meeting with fellow South American Jose Acasuso.

"David Ferrer's a great player," said Gonzalez. "I lost to him in Auckland, so I'm pleased to get through. I was playing good tennis from the beginning of the match, and I felt confident I could win."

Gonzalez, the 22-year-old from Chile, has struggled with various injuries in 2003 that caused him to retire from matches in Buenos Aires and Acapulco. But he got back to wining ways in Estoril and he is looking forward to doing well this week.

"The goal is to win every match," said Gonzalez. "Of course I want to win the tournament, but I have to win the next match and go from there. I've played Acasuso a lot of times. He's a great player and a good friend. We practice a lot together, so we know each other's games really well. It's going to be a very tough match."

Sporting Lisbon

Earlier in the week, Gonzalez enjoyed watching fellow Chilean football stars Rodrigo Tello and Pablo Contreras as they helped Sporting Lisbon to a draw with Vitoria Guimaraes. "It's really nice to play here," he added. "On Sunday, I went to Sporting Lisbon and Vitoria Guimaraes because Sporting have two Chilean players."

Mirnyi, who won his first career ATP title in Rotterdam earlier this year, came through a potential obstacle when he defeated Alberto Martin 6-0, 4-6, 7-5, and the "Beast" was pleased with the way he adjusted to the clay.

"I'm only coming here off the Davis Cup, so I was still playing indoor tennis and I carried on playing the same way in the first set," said Mirnyi. "It was working for me but then he realized that if that was the way it was going, it was going to be a quick match. So he changed a few things and it turned out to be a battle in the third set. Alberto Martin has had some good results so I feel that beating means I'm in good form.

"I'm sure my game is very tough to play against. I wasn't playing to the best of my ability but I still managed to win the match. When I'm 100 percent, it will be even tougher to play against me."

Confidence

Mirnyi, who now takes on Romanian qualifier Victor Hanescu, added: "I hope to go further here than last year. It's much better weather this time. I'm playing much better tennis than last year and I feel like I'm a better player, so hopefully I can go further. Winning my first tournament in Rotterdam has given me a lot of confidence, and just winning lots of matches has made me believe in my abilities a lot more."

Meanwhile, Adrian Voinea overcame Wayne Arthurs 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1) to earn a second round meeting with either No,. 6 seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov or Irakli Labadze, and local favorite Bernado Mota returns on Wednesday to complete his match against Raemon Sluiter, when bad light stopped play with the scores tied at one set all.