ATP Tour

Torres, World No. 427, thrills home fans with first ATP win in Estoril

Tiago Torres reeled in the start of the 2026 Millennium Estoril Open in style on Monday afternoon, when he delighted his home crowd by earning his first ATP Tour victory.

The Portuguese wild card surged through 11 of the final 13 games against former Top-20 player Nikoloz Basilashvili to seal a commanding 6-4, 6-2 victory at the clay-court ATP 250 event. Torres, who graduated from the University of Texas San Antonio last year after four seasons of college tennis, was making his tour-level debut.

“It was an incredible four years in America and I’m not going to lie, it’s even better right now,” said Torres, who is competing at a career-high No. 427 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “This year I’ve been working a lot. I’ve been playing super good, but I never imagined I could play like this in a stadium like this.

“I’m so emotional right now. I don’t know what to say, to be honest. I always fight. That’s the best thing I have in my tennis. I always believe I can win even if I’m playing guys like him [Basilashvili] who are so much better than me on paper.”

Trailing 1-4 in the opening set, Torres quickly found his rhythm and never relinquished control, feeding off the energy of the home fans on the Portuguese Riviera to seal a 70-minute victory. The 24-year-old won 74 per cent (17/23) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to book a second-round clash with third seed Alejandro Tabilo.

Torres is one of six Portuguese players in the men's singles draw in Estoril this year, the highest home representation in the tournament's history. Yet two did not make it through the first round on Monday evening, with Frederico Ferreira Silva and Henrique Rocha falling.

Luca Van Assche defeated Ferreira Silva 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1 in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, while qualifier Pedro Martinez defeated Rocha 7-5, 6-4.

Titouan Droguet sent seventh seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli tumbling with a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 first-round victory, which was the Frenchman's 11th over a Top-100 player across all levels this season. Droguet, the World No. 114, will next meet Umag finalist Damir Dzumhur or countryman Hugo Gaston in Estoril.