ANTWERP, October 16, 2016

The qualifying of the €635,465 European Open concluded on Sunday with world number 304, Yannick Maden, making his way into his first main draw at an ATP World Tour event. The 26-year-old German knocked off Belgian youngster Kimmer Coppejans 6-2, 6-3.

Maden, who did a bachelor degree at the Clemson University in South Carolina in the United States and also played some college tennis over there, is currently ranked on a career high and is enjoying his best season on the tour. He lifted four ITF Future trophies in 2016, most recently in Santa Margherita di Pula eight days ago. Maden set a first round clash with fifth seed Gilles Simon of France.

Read: Tennis TourTalk met Yannick Maden earlier this year at the ITF Future in Porec

Maden will be joined in the main draw by fellow German Michael Berrer. The 36-year-old from Stuttgart beat Alexey Vatutin from Russia 7-6, 6-4 to face Spaniard Inigo Cervantes in the opening round. Slovakian Jozef Kovalik overcame Kenny De Schepper from France to set a meeting with Guillermo Garcia-López of Spain. Romanian Marius Copil is the fourth and final qualifier. The 25-year-old battled past the top seed of the qualifying Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in one hour and 54 minutes.