In a full day of tennis action in Hamburg, it was Benoit Paire who became the first seeded player to drop. The day also featured the beginning of post-Wimbledon campaigns from Alexander Zverev and Philipp Kohlschreiber. While one German flourished in front of his home country, the other floundered. Here's a look at what happened on day 2 at the German Open.
Results
The day opened with Stephane Robert routinely defeating Leonardo Mayer in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-4. While the first four games saw plenty of break point chances, neither player was able to convert on one until Mayer broke at 15 in the seventh game. Leading 5-4, the Argentinian just needed to hold serve to finish out the set. That proved to be a daunting task as the 36-year-old Robert broke at 15. The Frenchman then went on to win the set with relative ease in the tiebreak. At 4-4 in the second set, he capped off the victory with a break at 30 and a hold at love.
Meanwhile, Renzo Olivo, seventh seed Martin Klizan and Daniel Gimeno-Traver all found their way into the round of 16 with three-set wins. Olivo—who is ranked 153 in the world—upset Mikhail Youzhny—who is ranked 90 spots higher—in a match that came down to who finished best in the third set, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-1. Both players saw three break points, but while Youzhny couldn't get any to go his way, his Argentinian adversary relinquished two breaks. Despite a second set blip and a 0-3 deficit in the third, Klizan was able to overcome Igor Sijsling, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
As for Gimeno-Traver, his upset over Paire can be described using just a single gif.
If that's not enough, there's another video from the Frenchmen's meltdown match.
While there was at least one more incident of him smashing rackets, that's all the footage that could be found. Needless to say, Paire has played better matches. He became Gimeno-Traver's highest ranked player defeated this year (world number 23) after a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 loss.
That wasn't, however, the only upset of the day; Zverev found himself passed by Inigo Cervantes in straight sets, 7-5, 7-6(2), a day after his brother, Mischa, was eliminated. The German looked to be in good shape after grabbing the first break of the match, but things quickly took a turn in the other direction. Cervantes broke back to even the score at 4-4. Zverev regained the lead with a break back—this time at 30—before his Spanish opponent finished off the "break-fest" with a break at love. With order restored and the set back on serve, the world number 75 held at 30 before grabbing his third and final break of the set on his third set point. Once again, Zverev got off to a good start—breaking in the first game and taking a 2-0 lead. Following that with a hold-and-break combo, Cervantes leveled the set score at two apiece. After the break, Zverev was seen sarcastically applauding and give a thumbs up to a line judge who made a critical error during one of the break points. The two competitors then traded breaks one more time before holding their way to a tiebreak. Marred by inconsistency, the German youngster didn't last long in the tiebreak—getting just two of the points on his way as his early exit came to fruition. Similarly to Paire, Zverev—ranked number 28 in the world—was given the dubious honor of highest ranked player beaten by Cervantes this year.
Things went a lot better for the other German playing today. Top-seeded Kohlschreiber saw 19 break point chances in his 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-3 defeat of Carlos Berlocq. His opponent was able to get one break in the match, but seeing only one break point in the entire match makes it really hard to win.
Perhaps the most exciting match of the day was played by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Kenny De Schepper. The 29-year-old De Schepper struck first—breaking first, winning the first set and seeing the first match point—but it was 33-year-old Garcia-Lopez who played the role of unsung hero in the three-set drama, winning it 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(6).
The last two players into the round of sixteen were wildcard Louis Wessels—who defeated Steven Diez, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1—and Danii Medvedev—who defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.