ESTORIL, Portugal — Spain's Fernando Verdasco was headed to Portugal Monday to take his place at the Estoril Open boosted by fresh clay confidence after winning his first ATP title in two years.
The 32-year-old Spaniard, who will start as a wild card in the seaside resort venue outside Lisbon and faces eighth-seeded compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round, beat Frenchman Lucas
Pouille 6-3, 6-2 in a rain-delayed Monday final in Bucharest.
His last trophy came in April 2014, on clay in Houston.
Verdasco could well be a changed player in Estoril, an event which he first played in 2002. He last appeared here in 2011, losing the final to Juan Martin Del Potro.
His Bucharest success, a seventh ATP title in all, was also his first appearance at the business end of a tournament in more than a year and should send his ranking back into the ATP top 50.
Verdasco has suffered from neck and hip problems over the last two seasons.
"The most important thing now is to win matches," said the former top 10 player. "I've had injuries this year, now I want to stay healthy.
"These last few months have been complicated for me. It's been a long time since I was in this position, to win a tournament or to play in a final."
Verdasco will land in a field headed by debutant Gilles Simon, with 2015 finalist Nick Kyrgios expected to carry the majority of the week's charisma load.
The controversial Australian second seed lost the title match a year ago to Richard Gasquet, who joined compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in making an injury pullout (back and knee respectively).
In an opening-day match, Argentine seventh seed Leonardo Mayer put out the first of the four Portuguese entrants, defeating 368th-ranked wild card Pedro Sousa 6-1, 6-4.
Dodig beats Gulbis
Ivan Dodig advanced to the second round of the BMW Open by beating Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (3), 6-2 Monday as bad weather, including light snowfall, disrupted the opening day.
Play at the outdoor clay-court tournament was briefly interrupted several times as unseasonably cold weather hit the Bavarian capital.
Also, Lukas Rosol beat Denis Istomin 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) and Santiago Giraldo beat wild-card entry Mischa Zverev 7-5, 7-6 (5).
David Goffin is the top-seeded player in the event, with a bye into the second round, while Juan Martin del Potro is slated to make his clay-court comeback after nearly three years battling a wrist injury.
Makarova, Bertens advance
In Morocco, second-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Alexandra Dulgheru 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Grand Prix SAR Monday, while third-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia was routed 6-0, 6-1 by former champion Kiki Bertens.
The 30th-ranked Makarova had three aces, while Bertens — the Dutch winner of the clay-court tournament in 2012 — broke Schmiedlova's serve six times.
In another upset, Brazilian Teliana Pereira beat sixth-seeded Annika Beck 6-3, 6-1, breaking the German player's serve seven times.
Fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary labored to a 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-1 win against Polona Hercog, while Sweden's Johanna Larsson beat Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-2 and next faces Pereira.
Ostapenko beaten
In Prague, sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko was eliminated from the Prague Open Monday, losing to Ana Konjuh 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round.
Konjuh will next face Hsieh Su-Wei, who defeated Kristyna Pliskova 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Also, Madison Brengle beat Naomi Broady 6-2, 6-0, Jana Cepelova defeated Margarita Gasparyan 7-6 (7), 7-5, and Katerina Siniakova beat Alize Cornet 7-6 (5), 6-3. — Agencies
