The Spanish Pedro Martínez A place in the final of the Estoril Open was reserved this Saturday by beating the defending champion and eighth player in the world, the Norwegian Casper Ruud, and will play the decisive duel for the title against the Polish Hubert Hurkacz.
It was a long and arduous battle for Martínez, number 77 in the ranking, against the big favorite and last winner of the Portuguese clay court tournament; but after three hours and six minutes, the Valencian won 6-4, 4-6 and 6-4.
In the final they will face the top 10 in the world, the Polish Hubert Hurkacz, who struggled in his semifinal this Saturday against the Chilean Cristian Garín, although they ended up winning 6-3, 3-6 and 6-3.
It is the first time that Martínez reaches the final of the Estoril tournament and the third time that he reaches the last round of an ATP competition.
In doubles, the couple of the Ecuadorian Gonzalo Escobar and the Kazakh Aleksandr Nedovyesov went to the final after defeating the favorites and current champions, the Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, 6-2 and 6-4.
Tomorrow, they will face the French Fabien Reboul and Sadio Doumbia, who beat the Monegasque Romain Arneodo and the Austrian Sam Weissborn in the semifinals by 7-6(3) and 6-3.