Tournament Preview: Estoril 29 April - 7 May 2006 ESTORIL OPEN 2006 The final claycourt tournament to be played on the Iberian Peninsula is the Estoril Open in Portugal. It is played jointly with the WTA tier IV event and always attracts some of the best claycourt men around. The 2006 edition features 2 top 10 players in Argentine, David Nalbandian and Russian, Nikolay Davydenko, 1 top 20 player in Spaniard Tommy Robredo (the latter being last year's finalist in singles and doubles), former world number 1, Marat Safin of Russia, who has been making a successful comeback to the circuit following injury, Athens gold medalist, Nicolas Massu and former French Open champion, Carlos Moya . There will also be an array of exciting newcomers such as Gaël Monfils, Nicolas Almagro (recently winning his first career title in Valencia), Gilles Simon (recent finalist in Valencia) and Dmitry Tursunov, all of whom have been surging up the rankings of late. David Nalbandian is currently ranked #3 in the world and, despite not winning a large number of tournaments, has been very consistent on all surfaces, as is proven by his record of having reached the quarterfinals of all 4 Grand Slams. He reached the third round in the recent Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost a close match to Robredo bu has been a semifinalist at the French Open in 2004. Nikolay Davydenko is the world number 6 thanks to his meteoric 2005 where he broke into the world's top 10 for the first time and reached the Masters Cup in Shanghai in November. One of the workhorses of the tour, he has had surprisingly average claycourt results so far this year, losing at the first hurdle in Valencia, Monte Carlo and Barcelona. However, he won the Estoril Open in 2003 and will be hoping for a repeat this year. With such depth in the field, it will be difficult to predict who will still be standing on Sunday 7 May, however, here are some of the key matches to be played in the first round: David Nalbandian v Nicolas Mahut: The number 1 seed Nalbandian reached the third round of Monaco (where he last played on clay). He withdrew from Barcelona last week but should be rested to start off his Estoril campaign. He can be known to falter mentally at big points but is also capable of playing very solidly on clay. Nicolas Mahut plays both International Series level events as well as some Challenger tournaments and this year won 3 consecutive Challengers in Besançon, Cherbourg and Kyoto. He was also a recent quarterfinalist last week in Casablanca where he lost to number 1 seed Massu. Nalbandian and Mahut have never met before. Carlos Moya v Flavio Saretta: Carlos Moya will be the number 6 seed at the tournament after receiving a wildcard to play. The 1998 French Open champion is no stranger to clay and, though perhaps now in the twilight of his career, has already won a claycourt title this year in Buenos Aires. He did, however, suffer a shock loss in Barcelona last week against qualifier Korolev. Flavio Saretta has been a semifinalist in Florianopolis this year, however in the last meeting between these two players in Acapulco (clay) 2003, Moya only dropped 2 games. Saretta has his chances against Moya here if he is playing well. Nicolas Lapentti v Nicolas Almagro: Nicolas Lapentti was once ranked as high as 6 in the world although he is now at 127. His claycourt titles include Bogota, Kitzbühel and St. Pölten and this year he's been a quarterfinalist at the Challenger event in Mexico City. His opponent, however, is enjoyinga sunny spot in his career. The young Spaniard won his first career title a few weeks ago in Valencia, defeating players like Ferrero and Safin along the way and last week reached the semifinals of Barcelona, losing only to Rafael Nadal. He has also reached the quarterfinals of Costa do Sauipe and the semifinals of Acapulco this year and has broken into the top 50 for the first time. A very feisty player with a good serve on clay, he will be hard to beat at the moment. Vincent Spadea v Nikolay Davydenko: Vince Spadea is one of the few Americans who is not totally flummoxed on clay. He has been a finalist in St. Pölten and this year was a quarterfinalist in Houston, where he lost to the eventual winner, Mardy Fish. He may have a tough task against number 2 seed and current world number 6, Davydenko, who was a semifinalist at last year's French Open. However, Davydenko has had a very unproductive clay season so far, yet to win a match on the surface and Spadea also has the advantage of a 3-0 head to head record against the Russian, their only meeting on clay being in the round of 16 in Rome 2004 where the American triumphed 4-6 6-3 6-4. Qualifying starts on Saturday 29 April and main draw on Monday 1 May. Daily play Monday-Friday starts at 11am, Saturday's semifinals at 2pm and Sunday's final at 3pm. Tickets cost around 15 euros and may be reserved online. For more information visit the tournament website. The official event hotels are the Hotel Miragem Cascais and the Hotel Praia Mar and the tournament venue is the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon, whose centre court seats 5 500. Vimeca transports will get you to the venue for free. Tournament Fast Facts: Venue: Estadio Nacional, Lisbon (Estoril coast), Portugal Dates: 29 April - 7 May 2006 Singles Qualifying draw: 32 Main Draw Singles: 32 Main Draw Doubles: 16 Surface: Outdoor clay Prize money: € 531 250 Tournament Director: João Lagos Main Draw Entry List: Nalbandian, David ARG Davydenko, Nikolay RUS Robredo, Tommy ESP Tursunov, Dmitry RUS Massu, Nicolas CHI Safin, Marat RUS Rochus, Christophe BEL Muller, Gilles LUX Dlouhy, Lukas CZE Zib, Tomas CZE Spadea, Vincent USA Almagro, Nicolas ESP Berlocq, Carlos ARG Simon, Gilles FRA Saretta, Flavio BRA Mahut, Nicolas FRA Wang, Yeu-Tzuoo TPE Gimelstob, Justin USA Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP Tipsarevic, Janko SCG Sluiter, Raemon NED Sabau, Razvan ROM Marin, Juan Antonio CRC Portas, Albert ESP Lapentti, Nicolas ECU (WC) Gil, Frederico POR (WC) Monfils, Gaël FRA (WC) Moya, Carlos ESP