Defending champion Joao Sousa had to dig deep to beat Alexei Popyrin 6-4 2-6 6-2 after 2 hours and 13 minutes to reach the second round at the Estoril Open.
Sousa won eight points more than Popyrin and fended off 8 of the 12 points he faced. Popyrin saved six of the eleven break points he faced in the first two sets. Popyrin got the break back in the fourth game of the third set before winning four consecutive games to reach the second round.
Sousa set up a second round match against 2017 ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin. The Belgian player leads 4-1 in his 5 head-to-head matches.
Frances Tiafoe, who finished runner-up to Joao Sousa in the Estoril final last year, beat Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 7-5 setting up a second round against Yoshihito Nishioka. Tiafoe saved five of the six break points and converted three of the eleven chances to clinch the win in straight sets.
Leonardo Mayer stunned this year’s Monte-Carlo finalist Dusan Lajovic 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 after 1 hour and 53 minutes. Lajovic fended off four set points at 4-5 on serve. Mayer got two mini-breaks and won five points on serve to win the mini-break 7-3. Both players traded breaks in the first six games. Mayer earned the decisive break to take a 5-4 lead and fended off a break point in the next game to close out the match.
The Argentine will face Malek Jaziri, who edged Barcelona quarter finalist Nicolas Jarry 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Jeremy Chardy rallied from one set down to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 5-7 6-1 6-2. Chardy dropped just 17 points on serve and got four breaks of serve in the final two sets.
John Millman cruised past Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-0. Tomic won just two points on return and dropped the final seven games.
Former Wimbledon Junior champion Alejandro Fokina edged past Taylor Fritz 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 after 1 hour and 26 minutes. Fokina won the tie-break 7-3 in the first set and earned a late break at 5-4 to seal the second set 6-4.
Pablo Cuevas cruised past Salvatore Caruso 6-2 6-2 in 69 minutes setting up a second round match against 2019 Monte-Carlo champion Fabio Fognini.