BRAUNSCHWEIG, July 9, 2019

Top seed Casper Ruud began his title bid at the Sparkassen Open with a hard-fought win against Ludwigshafen Challenger champion Yannick Hanfmann of Germany on Tuesday afternoon in Braunschweig. The World No. 62 broke his opponent’s serve six times to secure a 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-5 victory in just under three hours of play.

Both players team-up for the TC Weinheim in the German Tennis Bundesliga. “It’s always tough to play against a good friend. But it was a good start into the tournament for me. It will help me to grown in confidence,” Ruud commented.

The 20-year-old from Norway will be challenged in the third round of the ATP Challenger 90 clay-court event by Daniel Altmaier. The 20-year-old wild card entry benefited from the retirement of fellow German Oscar Otte. Altmaier was leading 6-3, 1-0 when Otte was forced to stop playing due to a lower back injury. “Obviously this is not the way you like to end a match,” Altmaier said afterwards.

Javier Barranco Cosano caused the upset of the day by knocking out No. 2 seed Hugo Dellien of Bolivia. The 20-year-old Spaniard, who entered the tournament by his ITF-Ranking, emerged victorious 6-1, 7-6(3). Barranco Cosano won 58 per cent of the total points played to advance in one hour and 21 minutes. Next up for the Jávea resident will be Marco Trungelliti of Argentina, who edged past Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador 7-6(8), 6-4. The encounter lasted one hour and 39 minutes.

No. 3 seed Henri Laaksonen also booked his spot in the third round. The World No. 97 from Switzerland defeated Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 6-3, 7-5. Laaksonen will next take on Germany’s Mats Moraing. Tobias Kamke upset No. 4 seed Stefano Travaglia of Italy, winning 6-3, 7-6(4) to set an all-German clash with wild card entry Johannes Haerteis, who beat teenager Rudolf Molleker in three sets.