Ben Shelton produced a passionate celebration on Centre Court of the Rothenbaum Tennis Complex after battling past fellow US-American Marcos Giron 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) on Monday evening to reach the second round of the Bitpanda Hamburg Open.

The world No. 5, seeded second this week at the ATP 500 event, needed two hours and 18 minutes to overcome lucky loser Giron in a high-quality encounter. Shelton relied on his powerful left-handed serve and aggressive baseline game to edge a tense deciding-set tie-break and book a blockbuster clash against Germany’s Daniel Altmaier on Tuesday evening.

Clutch as always 🫡@BenShelton survives Giron 6-3 4-6 7-6 to improve to *11-0* at ATP 500 level this year!#bitpandahamburgopen pic.twitter.com/fiMe3tR3vv

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 18, 2026

“That was a really tough match,” Shelton said afterwards. “Altmaier is a very good clay-court player and he will have the crowd behind him. That motivates me even more.”

Altmaier secured his place in the second round with a composed 7-5, 6-2 victory over Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata. The 27-year-old German handled a rain interruption well and quickly regained control once play resumed.

Earlier in the day, Jan-Lennard Struff’s campaign came to an early end in Hamburg. One of the local favourites at the Rothenbaum, the German fell 7-6(3), 6-2 to rising Czech star Jakub Mensik during the tournament’s “German Tennis Day.”

Mensik applied constant pressure with his explosive serve and varied attacking game, leaving Struff struggling to dictate play throughout much of the match. Despite the defeat, the 35-year-old left Centre Court to warm applause from the Hamburg crowd during his 16th appearance at the event.