HEILBRONN, May 12, 2018
The official draw for the fifth edition of the €85,000 NECKARCUP was held on Saturday and determined the match-ups for the upcoming week in Heilbronn. The tournament’s organizers as well as ATP Challenger supervisor Ahmed Abdel-Azim were joined by Lukas Wolff from the TennisBase Oberhaching.
Top seed John Millman from Australia, who just advanced to the final of the Open du Pays d’Aix, will open his title bid against Argentine Juan-Ignacio Londero. The 24-year-old Argentine is also in good shape, as he captured his maiden Challenger title in Mexico City earlier this season. The pair will meet for the first time.
German wild card entry Marvin Möller will challenge No. 2 seed Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic, who eyes his seventh ATP Challenger trophy. The tournament’s No. 3 will be Yannick Maden. The 28-year-old local favourite is currently ranked on a career high World No. 118 and will face Dennis Novikov from the United States.
Yannick Hanfmann will face #NextGenATP Australian Marc Polmans in one of the most interesting first round matches. The No. 4 seed from Germany recently enjoyed another good run at the BMW Open, pushing Alexander Zverev the distance in their second round clash in Munich. The 21-year-old Melbourne resident clinched four titles this season, lifting three ITF Pro Circuit trophies on home soil as well as winning the ATP Challenger in Launceston.
Dustin Brown will take on Norwegian young gun Casper Ruud in what could be another entertaining encounter. The 19-year-old from Oslo will appear in the final of the inaugural Braga Open against Pedro Sousa.
Tennis action kicked off with the first round of the qualifying. All of the favourites prevailed.
Qualifying Singles – First Round
Qualifying – M. Niesten (NED) d [WC] M. Meyer (GER) 61 63
Qualifying – C. Negritu (GER) d D. Surchenko (RUS) 75 61
Qualifying – J. Pla Malfeito (ESP) d [WC] R. CHRISTIANSEN (GER) 61 60
Qualifying – C. Geens (BEL) d J. Rodionov (AUT) 63 67(10) 61
Qualifying – B. Hassan (GER) d [WC] M. Rittershofen (GER) 61 60
Qualifying – M. Giner (ESP) d M. Balmashev (RUS) 46 64 63
Qualifying – D. Molchanov (UKR) d I. Zelenay (SVK) walkover
Qualifying – J. Lenz (GER) d A. Iakovlev (RUS) 60 60
