LUDWIGSHAFEN, July 4, 2019

Twelve local favourites entered the 56-man singles draw of the Ludwigshafen Challenger and Yannick Hanfmann remains the last player flying the flag for Germany. The 27-year-old from Karlsruhe eased past No. 6 seed Gianluca Mager of Italy, winning 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday afternoon. Hanfmann saved the only break point he faced, converting four of his own 16 chances to advance to the quarterfinals of the €46,600 clay-court event after 66 minutes.

The World No. 212 will next take on fourth seed Elias Ymer. The 23-year-old from Sweden dismantled Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 33 minutes.

Dustin Brown lost to Bernabe Zapata Miralles in straight sets by the score of 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old Spaniard withstood six aces from “Dreddy” and broke the German’s serve two times to seal victory in one hour and nine minutes. Zapata Miralles will play No. 2 seed Stefano Traviaglia of Italy, who remained untroubled to beat Spanish veteran Daniel Gimeno Traver 6-4, 6-2.

Local hero Benjamin Hassan lost in the final match of the day 6-3, 6-2 to Slovakia’s Alex Molcan. The lefty from Presov, who the ATP Challenger event as an alternate, outpointed Hassan 74-59 after one hour and 28 minutes. Molcan will next face Facundo Bagnis. The No. 9 seed from Argentina edged out Andrej Martin from Slovakia 6-1, 6-3. The encounter lasted one hour and 13 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Constant Lestienne knocked out the tournament’s top seed Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland, winning 7-6(1), 7-6(6). The No. 16 seeded Frenchman won 54 per cent of the total points played to prevail after two hours and seven minutes. Up next for Lestienne will be Filip Horansky of Slovakia, who benefited from the retirement of Oscar Otte from Germany due to a lower back injury, trailing 6-7(2), 1-0.

RESULTS – JULY 04, 2019
Singles – Third Round
[16] C. Lestienne (FRA) d [1] H. Laaksonen (SUI) 76(1) 76(6)
[2] S. Travaglia (ITA) d D. Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 64 62
[4] E. Ymer (SWE) d [15] D. Galan (COL) 64 64
[9] F. Bagnis (ARG) d [5] A. Martin (SVK) 61 63
Y. Hanfmann (GER) d [6] G. Mager (ITA) 61 62
B. Zapata Miralles (ESP) d [7] D. Brown (GER) 63 64
[12] F. Horansky (SVK) d [8] O. Otte (GER) 67(2) 10 Retired
[Alt] A. Molcan (SVK) d B. Hassan (GER) 63 62

Doubles – Quarterfinals
[1] N. Lammons (USA) / F. Romboli (BRA) d L. Grigelis (LTU) / Z. Kolar (CZE) 64 64
[3] D. Brown (GER) / H. Hach Verdugo (MEX) d A. Siljestrom (SWE) / E. Ymer (SWE) 67(6) 64 11-9
F. Horansky (SVK) / L. Miedler (AUT) d H. Reese (USA) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) 75 64
J. Domingues (POR) / P. Sousa (POR) d [ITF] P. Heller (GER) / S. Puodziunas (AUS) 64 63