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4/16/08 3:05 AM | Cheryl Murray
The third day in Estoril features Frenchman Gilles Simon and hometown favorite Rui Machado, one of three Portuguese players to advance to the second round.
Florent Serra vs. Rui Machado
Portuguese wild card entrant Rui Machado gave the hometown fans a nice surprise by beating number 3 seed Ivo Karlovic on Tuesday. He is ranked 371 in the world, and has been playing on the Futures tour in 2008 with great success. He has won five of the six Futures events that he's played and made the semifinals in the other, his results coming on both hard courts and clay. His opponent is Florent Serra, ranked 101 in the world. Serra made the quarterfinals in Chennai, where he lost to Carlos Moya, but since then he has not advanced past the second round of an ATP tournament. Clay is his favorite surface, but it would not be a complete surprise if Machado pulled off the upset.
Marc Gicquel vs. Thierry Ascione
In this second round battle of the Frenchmen, Marc Gicquel takes on Thierry Ascione. Ascione is accustomed to playing more on the Challenger circuit, where he has enjoyed some success. His ATP record for 2008 has not been quite as encouraging. He is 1-2 so far, having won his first match for the year in round one earlier in the week. His opponent, number 55 in the world Marc Gicquel, won the Challenger in Besancon, but has struggled a bit on the main tour; he sits at 4-6 in 2008. Still with those struggles, Gicquel should be able to advance.
Gilles Simon (5) vs Flavio Cipolla
This match should be Gilles Simon's for the taking. Flavio Cipolla, the Italian ranked 127 in the world, is playing his first ATP tournament of the year. He spends the majority of his time on the Challenger curcuit, and he is even struggling there of late. Simon prefers to play on hard courts, but he had excellent clay results in 2007, winning the tournament in Bucharest. He did not perform well at the first two Masters events of the year, but he made the semifinal in Rotterdam and the quarters in Marseille. Simon in straight sets.
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