Estoril Open 2003 News and Events

Jarkko Nieminen
© Getty Images

The upsets continued at the Estoril Open on Wednesday as third seed Sjeng Schalken suffered the same fate as top seeds Jiri Novak and Rainer Schuettler earlier in the week when he lost 6-3, 6-2 to Nikolay Davydenko in the first round. Meanwhile, last year's finalist Jarkko Nieminen also went out, losing in straight sets to Agustin Calleri in round two.

Schalken's defeat means fourth seed Fernando Gonzalez remains the highest seed in the men's draw, and the Chilean moved impressively through to the quarterfinals after defeating good friend Jose Acasuso of Argentina 6-1, 6-3.

"[Davydenko] played well and I played a terrible first clay court match," said Schalken. "It's a big change for me to go from hard courts to clay and you could see that today. I missed very many shots, which I usually don't do. I had practiced hard here and I will continue to practice hard. I will also try to go far in the doubles here. I'm sure I will play better in my next match, it can't go any worse."

Wrist

Davydenko, who broke his left wrist in Memphis in February and was expected to be out of action for up to two months, showed no signs of the injury en route to his victory over Schalken.

"One doctor said I would be out for maybe two months, and said to think about coming back in May or June," said Davydenko. "I went five days without playing at all and then I tried to practice with just the forehand for three weeks, no backhands because I play with two hands. I played three days before Miami and now I've been playing two weeks with both hands on the backhand, so now it's no problem."

The Russian, who represented his country in the Davis Cup loss to Argentina last weekend, now meets Germany's Alexander Waske in the second round.

"For me, it was important to try and play better than I did in Davis Cup [in Argentina], and I have been playing better and better," said Davydenko. "I lost to Nalbandian in three sets but I played better against Gaudio. So I feel like I can still play better here and make an impression in this tournament."

Nieminen, who said he was expecting a tough match against Calleri - a recent winner in Acapulco - and the Fin was not wrong. Calleri broke early in the first set to lead 3-1, but Nieminen, who lost to Calleri's countryman David Nalbandian in last year's Estoril final, broke straight back only to lose his serve again in the following game. After taking the first set, Calleri broke again in the seventh game of the second and saved three break points in the following game before wrapping up a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

"This year, I've been playing very well," said Calleri. "I won the title in Acapulco in February and I think I'm playing better tennis this year. I'm very confident that I can win here in Estoril, but there are some very good players still in the draw."

Winners

He now meets fellow South American Gonzalez in the quarterfinals, after the Chilean needed just 49 minutes to defeat his frequent practice partner Acasuso and maintain his 100 percent record against the Argentine (5-0). "I know Acasuso really well and I knew it was going to be a tough match, but today I played a little bit differently from my usual game. Normally I try to attack and go for winners, but today I was trying to wait and get into longer rallies, not always going for the winners. He also made lots of mistakes today.

"[Calleri's] playing good tennis, he won the title in Acapulco, so he's playing with a lot of confidence. We have a very similar style of game so it will be an interesting match tomorrow."