ATP Hamburg - DRAW: Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Fognini are favorites
Hamburg European Open, the last ATP 500 clay-court tournament of the season takes place next week, standing as one of the oldest tennis events in the world, established in 1892! Hamburg became a part of the Open era already in 1968, with John Newcombe as the first winner, followed by the names like Tony Roche, Manuel Orantes, Guillermo Vilas, and Ivan Lendl. In 1990, Hamburg joined the newly-formed ATP Super 9 Series where it stayed for the next 19 years, with Roger Federer as the most successful player after winning four titles. Reduced to the ATP 500 category from 2009, Hamburg never managed to gather the players from the top again but the organizers have been doing their best to attract at least some of the competitors from the top, which is the case in 2019 as well. Dominic Thiem is the top seed, hoping for a better run than a year ago when Nicolas Jarry defeated him in two tie breaks in the quarter-final.
Thiem will face Pablo Cuevas in the first match, followed by the second-round clash against Philipp Kohlschreiber or Marton Fucsovics. Cristian Garin, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud and Robin Haase are the remaining players in the top quarter, all hoping to take Dominic down and advance into the semis. Fabio Fognini, the champion from 2013 is the third seed, retiring in Umag and seeking deeper run in Hamburg. His rivals for the spot in the last four are two-time winner Leonardo Mayer, Rudolf Molleker, Pablo Carreno Busta, Yannick Hanfmann and Jan-Lennard Struff. The defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili and Benoit Paire lead the third quarter, facing Jeremy Chardy, Richard Gasquet, Salvatore Caruso and Bastad finalist Juan Ignacio Londero before the potential quarter-final duel.
In the bottom quarter, world no. 5 Alexander Zverev decided to take a wild card after an early Wimbledon loss, desperate for some big points after a mediocre season so far that has brought him one small title. Alexander defeated Nicolas Jarry in the final of Geneva after a great battle and will face the Chilean in the first round, having the advantage of the fact that Jarry is still in Bastad, playing for the first ATP title on Sunday. Laslo Djere, Filip Krajinovic, Daniel Altmaier, 2016 champion Martin Klizan, Marco Cecchinato and Federico Delbonis are Zverev's rivals before the semi-final and it will be interesting to see his current level before North American hard-court swing.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Y99HOV
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