BRAUNSCHWEIG, July 10, 2017

The ATP Challenger Tour has returned to Braunschweig for the 24th edition of the €127,000 Sparkassen Open, held at the BTHC at Bürgerpark. The tournament features an array of illustrious past champions including Alexander Zverev, Tomas Berdych, Gaston Gaudio, Alberto Berasategui and Magnus Gustafsson. All seeded players this year are ranked inside the Top 100.

Nicola Kuhn opened main draw action on Monday, winning the battle of the qualifiers. The 17-year-old Spaniard defeated Goncalo Oliveira from Portugal 6-4, 6-2.

Kuhn, who is appearing at his first ATP Challenger event since reaching the second round in Meerbusch in August last year, capitalized on all of his four break point chances to seal victory in one hour and 17 minutes. Kuhn will next play either fourth seed Carlos Berlocq of Argentina or Jan Satral from the Czech Republic.

French qualifier Axel Michon caused the upset of the day, knocking out third seed Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. The 26-year-old won 61 per cent of his first service points and broke serve six times to finish the encounter after two hours and 52 minutes. Michon will next challenge either Yannick Maden or George von Massow.

Radu Albot set up a possible second round clash with top seed Horacio Zeballos from Argentina. The World No. 108 rallied past German teenager Daniel Altmaier, who entered the main draw with a wild card, winning 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. Albot won three points more than his opponent to prevail after two hours and 24 minutes.