The Hamburg European Open continued today after spicy clashes on Monday and Tuesday had opened the ATP Tour 500 tournament. On Monday, fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo defeated Francisco Comesana, while sixth seed Matteo Arnaldi was knocked out by Pedro Martinez.
Hamburg’s finalist last year, Laslo Djere, also defeated Zizou Bergs with a second-set tiebreak. The second seed, Holger Rune, faced Fabian Marozsan in a first-round clash, putting up a commanding performance that his Hungarian opponent couldn’t match.
How will the rest of this tournament unfold?
Zverev Races Through Hamburg 1st Round
Still recuperating from an injury sustained in Wimbledon, Hamburg hometown hero, Alexander Zverev blew off Jesper de Jong at the Hamburg European Open with relative ease. The German No. 1 and world No. 4 won the second-round clash 6-2, 6-2.
Zverev claimed the injury he had sustained in his win over Cameron Norrie after a nasty fall had made it difficult for him to move in his defeat against Taylor Fritz. None of that hindrance showed against Jesper de Jong as he didn’t face a single breakpoint all through the match.
“I was still unsure this morning if I was going to play or not and during the warm-up, I was in quite a lot of pain. But somehow when I step on this court it disappears a little bit when the adrenaline gets going.
I have an injury where I know where I stand and it will take time to heal. It won’t heal in the next few days, it will take weeks and it’s up to me if I am going to play like that or not.”
The Hamburg clash felt like a baptism by fire for Jesper. After a relatively solid start to the match with impressive serving in the first game, Jesper fell off the wheel in his second service game, dropping two break points to Alexander Zverev. Two solid backhand volleys from Zverev rattled the 24-year-old Dutchman before a powerful forehand winner sealed the break of his serve.
Massive forehand and backhand striking from Zverev kept chasing Jesper all around the court till the German opened a 5-1 lead on the Dutchman. Zverev eventually wrapped up the set with a massive ace in the 35th minute. Building on 14 winners in the first set, the German smashed 15 winners past Jesper in the second set.
This put the Hamburg Open second round out of reach for his Dutch opponent. Having defeated Laslo Djere in the 2023 Hamburg final, Zverev came into the 2024 edition not just as the top seed, but also as the defending champion. Zverev went on to break Jesper’s serve in the third and fifth games of the second set. The German then held comfortably on to his serves to win the second set and secure a spot in the second round of the Hamburg draw.
Sebastian Baez: King Of 2024 Clay-court
Third seed, Sebastian Baez started the Hamburg European Open against Dominik Koepfer on Tuesday in the first round. The Argentine defeated the German 6-2, 6-3. Today, the draw paired him with 34-year-old Dusan Lajovic in the second round.
The Serbian broke Baez’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and went on to win the first set 6-4. That didn’t deter Baez. On a second set point, the Argentine broke Lajovic’s serve in the 12th game of the second set with a forehand winner that squeezed past the Serbian to win the set.
Baez then went on to force a Lajovic backhand long to break the Serbian’s serve early in the third set. This made the Hamburg quarterfinal a longshot for the Serbian. On a fifth match point, Lajovic sliced a backhand shot long to give Baez the win and a spot in the Hamburg quarters. The win in Hamburg was Sebastian Baez’s 22nd win on clay in 2024, more than any other player has managed this year.
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