© 2012 Daily Tennis News Wire -
Swiss third seed Stanislas Wawrinka has been haunting the practice courts at the Estoril Open as he makes his debut. The No. 22 has made a solid clay start in 2012, reaching semi-finals in Buenos Aires and Acapulco in February and losing a Monte Carlo quarter-final to Rafael Nadal.

"I want to keep up my level," said the Beijing Olympic gold medalist with Roger Federer. "I've done very well so far on clay and don't want to stop now.

"Conditions here are different than in Monaco, there is much more wind. But after getting over a leg problems (in March in the US), I've showed I'm fit again. I'll be giving my maximum this week. I want to start getting rhythm for the big events coming up."

Estoril leads into the Madrid Masters starting on Sunday in the Spanish capital, a venue located at 650 meters above sea level. That makes the ball fly and requires another massive adjustment from players after dealing with rain off and on during the Estoril week.