MUNICH, April 28, 2015

First round matches continued on a rainy Tuesday in Munich. Nine encounters of the BMW Open by FWU AG could be played in pretty chilly conditions with temperatures of about ten degrees Celsius.

German wild card Florian Mayer, who returned to the tour after an injury playing his only third tournament of the season, opened centre court action but was without any chance against ninth seed Lukas Rosol. The Czech dominated the match right from the beginning winning 6-2, 6-2 in only 54 minutes.

“I am disappointed that I lost the match in such a quick way. He played very fast and it wasn’t my best day,” a disappointed Mayer told, who has been sidelined from the courts for almost an entire season due to a pubic bone injury before he returned in Monte Carlo. “Nonetheless, I am happy to be back on the tour and that I am able to play without any pain.”

Rosol will meet Sergiy Stakhovsky in the next round. The 29-year-old Ukrainian cruised past lucky loser Mikhail Ledovskikh winning 6-0, 6-0 in only 35 minutes.

Two-time Munich champion Philipp Kohlschreiber celebrated a comfortable victory over last week’s finalist from Bucharest, Jiri Vesely. The fifth-seeded German didn’t have to face a single break point winning 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes.

“Of course I am happy with my performance. It was a difficult day for all of us on court today. It was pretty cold. I had a good start with solid play and a nice variety of shots. Everything worked out today, so that it was difficult for my opponent,” Kohlschreiber said and will meet Alexander Zverev in the next round for the first time on the tour.

“I expect a man being taller than me, and also younger,” the 31-year-old told with a laugh. “Of course, he has a big serve but he is actually able to control every shot on the court. He is a big talent and has already shown that he can play really well with an aggressive game. I hope that I will have a good day, returns will be very important with the altitude here and then chances are good for me to win the match.”

Two former world number eights, who dropped in rankings due to injuries, were also in action. Radek Stepanek qualified into the main draw and defeated Munich’s last direct acceptance Farrukh Dustov in the opening round leading 6-1, 4-1 before the Uzbek was forced to retire due to an injury.

“You never want to end up matches before it’s really done but I was in control since the beginning, playing very smart without a lot of mistakes. Basically all the time, I put my opponent under pressure and today, we had really tough conditions, very cold and windy,” Stepanek told afterwards.

“I came here after seventh month when I was injured and I didn’t know what to expect but everything went well and I am very pleased for that. I have great memories here in Munich. I took the doubles title twice here and also had some great success in singles, it’s all coming along.”

“The biggest surprise for me is playing without any pain. I could play four matches in four days and I feel great, no physical problems and I’m not tired either. Everything seems working so far and it seems that I did everything right in the preparations,” Stepanek seems to be ready taking on third seed Roberto Bautista-Agut in the next round.

The other one is Janko Tipsarevic, who was granted a wild card when Tommy Haas was forced to withdraw from the tournament. The Serb is currently ranked on 635^th position playing his third event of the season and also emerged victorious on his comeback trail beating Bernard Tomic 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 in two hours and seven minutes.

Dominic Thiem rallied back from a set down winning the closest match of the day against Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 6-4, 7-6. The 21-year-old Austrian saved three break points he had to face and capitalized on three on his own to seal victory in two hours and eight minutes.

The Italians also had a good start into the tournament. Eighth seed Fabio Fognini beat lucky loser Bastian Trinker from Austria, who played his very first ATP World Tour match, winning 6-2, 7-6. Last year’s finalist won 81% of his first service points to seal victory in one hour and two minutes.

Only two minutes longer needed Fognini’s compatriot Simone Bolelli to defeat German qualifier Dustin Brown winning 6-1, 7-6. Bolelli will meet fourth seed David Goffin in the second round. It didn’t seem to help that Brown received some special support from Gael Monfils. The Frenchman was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to knee injury but on his way to Geneva, he had a short stopover in Munich . “I really would have liked to play here, as this is a great tournament, organized very well,” the world number 15 said. “Fingers crossed for my friend Dustin Brown, that he will play well here. I hope to be back next year.”

In the final match of the day, qualifier Mischa Zverev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes to have the honour taking on top-seed Andy Murray at his Munich debut on Thursday.