MUNICH, April 23, 2022
The 106th edition of the BMW Open by American Express kicked off Saturday with the first round of the qualifying. No. 2 seed Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan defeated Maximilian Marterer of Germany 6-2, 6-2 after one hour and 26 minutes on Center Court of the MTTC Iphitos.
The World No. 87 will play home favourite and No. 8 seed Yannick Hanfmann for a spot in the main draw. The 30-year-old Karlsruhe native beat Elias Ymer from Sweden 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes.
Egor Gerasimov from Belarus upset top seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 7-6(6), 6-1 and will next take on Thiago Monteiro. The seventh-seeded Brazilian edged out Kazakh veteran Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4. Serbian wild card entry Marko Topo knocked off No. 4 seed Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 and will take on No. 6 seed Norbert Gombos. The 31-year-old Slovakian rallied past Daniel Masur of Germany 6-7(5), 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 35 minutes, the longest match of the day.
Fifth-seeded Czech Jiri Lehecka also had to go the distance against Damir Dzumhur from Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5 to oppose No. 3 seed Alejandro Tabilo of Chile on Sunday. Tabilo battled past Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux 5-7, 7-5, 6-3. The encounter lasted two hours and 33 minutes.
Zverev leads the field
Meanwhile, the main draw was revealed with top seed Alexander Zverev awaiting the winner of the match between #NextGenATP star Holger Rune and a qualifier. The World No. 3 from Germany captured the Munich title in 2017 and 2018 but fell in the quarterfinals in his past two appearances. Zverev is joined in the top half of the draw by seeded players Reilly Opelka from the United States, 2019 BMW Open champion Cristian Garin of Chile and Daniel Evans – the Briton a potential quarterfinal opponent.
Alexander Zverev 🇩🇪 accompanied by Sergi Bruguera 🇪🇸 at the @BMWOpen2022 in Munich.
The top seed will start his title bid for a third title in Bavaria against either Holger Rune or a qualifier on Wednesday.#ATPTour #BMWOpen #Munich 🍺
📸: @brigitte__urban pic.twitter.com/RcuUcafkXP
— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) April 23, 2022
The bottom half of the draw is led by Norwegian Casper Ruud, who could face Marrakech finalist Alex Molcan of Slovakia in the second round. Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia and Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic could meet in the stage of the final eight if the seeds hold.
