Oeiras, Portugal – Fifth seed Julien Benneteau came up an opening-round loser Tuesday at the $535,000 Portugal Open tennis event.
Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta stunned the Frenchman 6-3, 6-4 at this clay-court tournament.
Eighth-seeded Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo avoided an upset by coming back to beat fellow countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. The one-time top- five star Robredo was a runner-up at this tournament in Estoril back in 2005.
A crowd-pleasing upset came when Portuguese wild card Gastao Elias took out seventh-seeded Argentine Horacio Zeballos, 6-3, 6-4. Zeballos shocked the great Rafael Nadal in a clay-court final in Chile back in February.
Meanwhile, Spaniard Albert Ramos outlasted Argentine Carlos Berlocq 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3; Italian Paolo Lorenzi edged out Belgian qualifier Niels Desein 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Romanian veteran Victor Hanescu handled Portuguese qualifier Rui Machado 6-4, 6-4; Colombian Alejandro Falla topped Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 7-5, 6-4; and Dutch qualifier Robin Haase overcame Spaniard Pablo Andujar 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Day 2.
The 2013 Portugal Open winner will collect $96,000.
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