KITZBÜHEL, July 31, 2017

Main draw action of the final clay-court event of the 2017 season kicked off on Monday with the opening round matches at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel.

Austrian wild card entry Sebastian Ofner benefited from the retirment of last year’s runner-up Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, leading 7-5, 3-0. The 25-year-old from Tbilisi was forced to stop playing due to a hip injury after exactly one hour.

Ofner, who rallied from two sets down to defeat Jay Clarke and qualify for his first Grand Slam at the All England Club, then beat Thomaz Bellucci in straight sets and Jack Sock in five sets to reach the third round, will next take on Kitzbühel’s top seed Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay.

German qualifier Maximilian Marterer was seeking his first ATP World Tour win after 11 career matches but lost to Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 5-7, 6-7 in one hour and 57 minutes. Lajovic will next play fourth favourite Gilles Simon from France.

Qualifier Miljan Zekic set a second round clash with Gstaad champion Fabio Fognini, the tournament’s number two. The 29-year-old from Serbia fought past Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 7-6, 7-6, winning eight points more than his opponent to secure victory in one hour and 49 minutes.

Defending champion Paolo Lorenzi will open his title defence against Joao Sousa from Portugal. The 28-year-old Guimaraes native sent down nice aces, winning 84 per cent of his first service points to beat Russian veteran Mikhail Youzhny 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 after two hours and 13 minutes.