MEERBUSCH, August 17, 2016
The bottom half of the draw of the €42,500 Cittadino Challenger was in second round action at the Sportpark Büderich on Wednesday.
Meerbusch’s number two Roberto Carballés-Baena is having a break from his clay court swing in Italy, as he played in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Fano before and will continue his journey in Manerbio as well as Como. The world number 95 from Spain benefited from the retirement of his opponent Jeremy Jahn to reach the quarterfinals. The German, who was actually setting the tone during the encounter being more aggressive, was forced to finish the match in the middle of the second set, leading 7-6, 3-3 due to a shoulder injury.
Carballés-Baena will next take on Maximilian Marterer, who edged past Yannick Mertens 6-2, 6-4. The 21-year-old German didn’t face a break point, converting three of his own to advance in one hour and 17 minutes.
The tournament’s number five Jerzy Janowicz gained his first singles match win since the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris Bercy last November, as he opened his Meerbusch campaign with a straight sets victory over Filip Horansky on Monday. He backed it up with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 success over Germain Gigounon on Wednesday. The former world number 18, who dropped to world number 185 due to injury, sent down four aces and capitalized on three of his seven break point chances to prevail in one hour and 58 minutes.
Janowicz will next face Clement Geens, who knocked out fourth seed Steven Diez with a 7-6, 6-4 victory. The 20-year-old from Belgium fired 10 aces, winning 77% of his first service points. Geens finished the encounter in one hour and 56 minutes.
Action Packed Thursday In Meerbusch
Second round matches continue on Thursday with the highly expected “battle of the generations” when only 16-year-old Spaniard Nicola Kuhn will square off with German veteran Florian Mayer for a spot in the final eight. With Japanese Akira Santillan another teenager will be action, playing Aleksandre Metreveli. Marc Sieber faces Jordi Samper-Montana and Belarussian qualifier Andrei Vasilevski will meet Daniel Masur.
