BUDAPEST, April 23, 2019

John Millman of Australia opened his title bid at the Hungarian Open on a rainy Tuesday in Budapest. The No. 6 seed, who finished runner-up to Marco Cecchinato at the ATP 250 clay-court event last year, eased past Serbian qualifier Miomir Kecmanovic, winning 6-1, 6-2.

Millman was in control of the encounter, didn’t face a break point, converting four of his own seven opportunities to advance in just under one hour of play. Millman will next be challenged by local wild card entry Attila Balazs. The World No. 246 upset Hubert Hurkacz from Poland 6-3, 6-4 to earn the biggest win of his career. Balazs has beaten a top 60 player for the first time, celebrating his first ATP Tour win since July 2017.

Home comforts! 🇭🇺

Wildcard Attila Balazs upsets world no.52 Hurkacz in straight sets in Budapest – his first Tour win since July 2017 🙌#HungarianOpen pic.twitter.com/MXdjItWniQ

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 23. April 2019

Peter Gojowczyk beat South African qualifier Lloyd Harris 7-5, 6-4. The 29-year-old German won 81 per cent of his first service points to secure victory in one hour and eight minutes. Gojowczyk will next take on fourth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.

Laslo Djere of Serbia fought past Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 6-7(6), 7-6(2) to set a second round clash with either Italian teenager Jannik Sinner, who will appear in his maiden ATP Tour main draw as a lucky loser, or Hungarian youngster Mate Valkusz, who was awarded a wild card. The match was originally scheduled for today but has been postponed to Wednesday due to bad weather.

Results

5] L. Djere (SRB) d E. Gulbis (LAT) 64 67(6) 76(2)
[6] J. Millman (AUS) d [Q] M. Kecmanovic (SRB) 61 62
P. Gojowczyk (GER) d [Q] L. Harris (RSA) 75 64
[WC] A. Balazs (HUN) d H. Hurkacz (POL) 63 64
P. Herbert (FRA) d [LL] E. Gerasimov (BLR) 63 62
R. Haase (NED) d T. Fabbiano (ITA) 67(4) 63 62