Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer, a two-time champion of the Hamburg European Open, fell 7-6 (8), 6-4 to Germany’s Rudolf Molleker on Monday in the opening round of the German event.
FILE PHOTO: Tennis – Wimbledon – All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain – July 3, 2019 Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in action during his second round match against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Mayer, who won the tournament in 2014 and 2017, squandered two set points in the opening-set tiebreaker. He wound up losing despite producing a 13-4 edge in aces and posting a better first-serve percentage.
Molleker, 18, recorded the match’s only service break in the first game of the second set.
The Monday slate also saw two seeded players lose their opening-round matches. Jeremy Chardy rallied past fifth-seeded Benoit Paire 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-3 in a matchup of Frenchmen, and Russia’s Andrey Rublev topped eighth-seeded Cristian Garin 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Slovakia’s Martin Klizan and Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics also registered first-round wins.
BB&T Atlanta Open
Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie upset seventh-seeded Jordan Thompson of Australia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 in the first round at Atlanta.
Norris served 11 aces but had nine double faults en route to the 2-hour, 29-minute win.
In other first-round action, 19-year-old Aussie Alexei Popyrin got past the United States’ Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, and American Bradley Klahn defeated Romania’s Marius Copil 7-6 (3), 7-5.
J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad
Two seeded Spanish players produced three-set victories in the opening round at Gstaad.
No. 6 Roberto Carballes Baena rallied to beat Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2, and No. 7 Pablo Andujar topped Austrian qualifier Denis Novak 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe upset eighth-seeded Corentin Moutet of France 6-4, 6-4. Other first-round winners were the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely and two Italians, Thomas Fabbiano and Stefano Travaglia.
—Field Level Media