Carlos Moya heads a field containing five players who have won or reached the final at Roland Garros this week at the Estoril Open.
Joining the former No. 1 among the seeds are current Roland Garros holder
Gaston Gaudio, the shoulder-injury-challenged
Joachim Johansson, the back-from-a-shoulder-injury
Tommy Robredo, the back-from-a-toe-injury
Nicolas Massu, last week's Barcelona semifinalist
Radek Stepanek, his Czech mate
Jiri Novak, and Spain's
Feliciano Lopez.
As always on the dirt the dangerous floaters abound, with opening-round match-ups of note including (1) Moya vs. Spanish countryman Felix Mantilla (winner to likely face unseeded former No. 1
Juan Carlos Ferrero), (7) Novak vs. the sporadically-dangerous Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, (5) Massu vs. former French winner Al Costa, and (3) J.Johansson vs. Spanish grinder
Alex Calatrava.
Returning champions in the field are
Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Safin in the 2004 final), Ferrero (2001), Moya (2000), and Costa (1999).
On court Monday on the dirt are Hernych vs. (2) Gaudio, Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez vs. "Dr."
Ivo Karlovic, Tabara vs. Berdych, and Muller vs. Ventura.
