The first first-round matches in the singles competition took place at the Bitpanda Hamburg Open on Sunday. The appearance of young German talent Diego Dedura was eagerly awaited. Ranked 374th in the world, the 17-year-old had made it into the main draw thanks to a wild card. But Dedura had a tough time against the Italian.

In the first set, he was noticeably nervous on the big stage. Dedura then improved and brought more balance to the match. In the end, the top talent lost 1:6 and 4:6 to Italy’s Luciano Darderi. The top 50 player will now face the winner of the match between Brandon Nakashima from the USA and Raphael Collignon from Belgium in the second round. Despite the defeat, it was another important experience for Dedura at a major ATP 500 tournament.  

This was followed by a duel on the center court between the Argentinian number 4 seed Francisco Cerúndolo and Pedro Martinez from Spain. One of the big favorites for the title at the Bitpanda Hamburg Open won confidently in two sets with 6:2 and 6.3. Next up for the clay court specialist could be a clash with Jiří Lehečka from the Czech Republic. 

Alexander Zverev also starts the tournament on Monday. The Hamburg native will face Aleksandar Kovacevic from the USA. Zverev, Germany’s best tennis player, will play the third match of the day on Center Court. In the evening, the highly anticipated duel between Jan-Lennard Struff and top German talent Justin Engel is scheduled.