MARBURG, June 29, 2015

The sixth edition of the Marburg Open started with the first four main draw matches on Monday.

The top-seed of the € 42,500 ATP Challenger clay court event Taro Daniel was in action, facing Mirza Basic in the opening round. The 22-year-old Japanese seemed to be in control winning the opening set, but Basic rallied back, when he capitalized on four of his 15 break points. The world number 214 from Bosnia-Herzegovina closed the match out, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and eight minutes.

“Taro was just waiting for my errors, but I lifted my game and capitalized on my chances,” Basic told afterwards.

Daniel Brands made a successful return from the grass courts in Stuttgart, Ilkley and Nottingham to the dirt. The former world number 51 defeated seventh seed Renzo Olivo 6-4, 6-4. The 27-year-old German won 87% of his first service points to prevail in 75 minutes.

Uladzimir Ignatik advanced to second round, winning 6-2, 7-6 against German wild card Daniel Masur. The 24-year-old Belorussian fired eight aces and won 93% of his first service points to seal victory in one hour and 38 minutes.

Giovanni Lapenntti beat Maxime Authom, winning 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 17 minutes.

On Tuesday, tournament’s number two Paul-Henri Mathieu will take on German qualifier Julian Lenz. The latter is playing his first tournament since February this year, when the 22-year-old lost in the qualifying of the ATP Challenger in Dallas.

Third seed Farrukh Dustov made a strong start into the season, claiming the ATP Challenger title in Wroclaw in February, but is looking to win his first main draw match since the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells in March. The world number 132 from Uzbekistan made it into the second round of the qualifying in Wimbledon and will open his Marburg campaign against Arthur de Greef.

In another first round match, fourth seed Andrey Golubev will take on Gianni Mina for the first time on the tour.