The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an
ATP and
WTA clay court tennis tournament in Portugal. The event took place at the sports complex of Jamor in
Oeiras, of which
Estoril Court Central
Estoril Court Central is the main tennis court in Oeiras, Portugal. Built in 2005, it currently holds 10,000 spectators. It used to host the Portugal Open
The Portugal Open (formerly named Estoril Open) was an ATP and WTA clay court tennis t ...
is the most prominent show court. In 2015, the tournament was canceled due to lack of sponsorship. A new tournament,
Millennium Estoril Open
The Estoril Open (also known as the Millennium Estoril Open for sponsorship purposes) is an ATP clay court tennis tournament held in the Portuguese Riviera. The event take place at the sports complex of Clube de Ténis do Estoril in Cascais. T ...
, was created in its place, moving from
Oeiras to
Cascais.
The
2014 Portugal Open was the last edition.
History
The men's tournament was created in 1990 and has been won by several top-10 players, including former world No. 1 players
Thomas Muster
Thomas Muster (born 2 October 1967) is an Austrian former world No. 1 tennis player. One of the world's leading clay court players in the 1990s, he won the 1995 French Open and at his peak was called "The King of Clay". In addition, he won eig ...
(
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
and
1996),
Carlos Moyà (
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
),
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
(
2001),
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
(
2007), and
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
(
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
). Also,
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
lost the
2004 final and
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
and
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
won the doubles tournament in 1995 and
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, respectively. The men's half was part of
ATP World Tour 250 series
The ATP 250 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 250'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series'', and ''ATP World Series'') are the lowest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour, after the four Grand Slam to ...
tournaments.
The women's tournament started in 1989 as the ''Estoril Ladies Open'' and was in its first two years, a separate event. After being discontinued in 1990, the event returned as a part of the ''Estoril Open'' in 1998, starting as an
ITF tournament. In the following year it became a
WTA tournament again. The women's tournament is currently an
International Series tournament. No former world No. 1 has ever won the women's tournament but
Victoria Azarenka
Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former w ...
was runner-up in
2007.
Statistically, the men's tournament highlights the dominance of Argentine and Spanish male players on red clay. Between 1990 and 2001, at least one Spaniard appeared in the final ten times, with a player from Spain claiming the title in nine of those twelve years. The Spanish dominance waned in recent years. Since 2001, there have only been three Spaniards in four finals with two victories. Between 2002 and 2006, an Argentine made the final at Estoril, winning four of these five titles. The Argentine streak returned in 2011 with the first of three more victories in four years.
The roll of champions on the women's side is more diverse. Twelve of the seventeen different champions have represented a nation that had not previously won it. Despite this, Spain is still, although slightly, the most dominant nation. The women's tournament is a popular spot for players to win their first title; since it became a WTA event again in 1999, six players have used it to win their maiden title. In 2006, it showcased the first all-Chinese final in tour history, between
Zheng Jie
Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired tennis player from China. In May 2009, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15.
Zheng is one of the most successful tennis players from China. She won four WTA singles titles – Ho ...
and
Li Na
Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a Chinese former professional tennis player.
She achieved a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 2 on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine WTA Tour singles titles including two Grand ...
.
Only one Portuguese player has reached the final in either the men's or the women's event:
Frederico Gil, the losing men's finalist in 2010.
In 2013, the organization of the tournament changed its name to "Portugal Open" in order to present the tournament as a Portuguese well-organized event.
Past finals
See also
*
Portuguese International Championships
References
External links
*
ATP profile
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Defunct tennis tournaments in Europe
WTA Tour
Recurring sporting events established in 1990
Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2014
1990 establishments in Portugal