HAMBURG, August 10, 2026
The Hamburg Ladies & Gents Cup 2026 gathered pace on Monday with the start of the men’s main draw. Under largely dry and sunny conditions, national talents and international professionals treated spectators at Hamburg’s historic Rothenbaum venue to a day of high-quality tennis and an exciting start to the tournament week.
Moeller makes winning start
Local favourite Marvin Moeller (ATP No. 319) provided a particular highlight for the home crowd, battling past Romania’s Cezar Cretu (ATP No. 260) 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to open his ATP Challenger 75 campaign with a victory.
In a match featuring plenty of entertaining rallies, the 27-year-old Hamburg native converted six of his 12 break-point opportunities and won 54 per cent of the points played to leave Center Court victorious after almost three hours.
“I had a good start and controlled the match well for the first one-and-a-half sets,” Moeller said afterwards. “Then he changed his game a little and played more variably, which caused me some problems. I’m happy that I was able to regain the upper hand in the third set.”
Moeller knows the Rothenbaum inside out and was delighted to compete at his home venue. “It’s always great to play here, and obviously even more so when you win your first-round match,” said the Hamburg native, who claimed his first ATP Challenger title in Troyes, France, a month ago and returned home full of confidence.
“I’ve played a lot of matches recently and won many of them,” Moeller said. “That gives you confidence, especially when you can beat Top 100 players on the Challenger Tour.”
Moeller will next face eighth seed Raul Brancaccio (ATP No. 237). The Italian defeated Romania’s Filip Cristian Jianu (ATP No. 279) 6-3, 6-3.
McDonald wins battle of German teenage prospects
In an all-German clash between two teenagers, 18-year-old Niels McDonald (ATP No. 526) recovered from a difficult start to defeat Reinbek native Mika Petkovic (ATP No. 429) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 after one hour and 37 minutes.
“I didn’t get off to a good start and had to get used to the conditions,” McDonald said afterwards.
The British-born teenager, who lives in Schwerin, made his mark on the international stage last year when he won the boys’ singles title at the French Open. He became the first German since Alexander Zverev in 2014 to win a junior singles title at a Grand Slam tournament.
McDonald will next face Brazil’s Eduardo Ribeiro (ATP No. 372), who caused an upset by defeating second seed Max Alcala Gurri of Spain (ATP No. 171) 6-4, 6-4.
Hamburg Ladies & Gents Cup 2026 – Media Day 📺 🎤#ATPChallenger #ITFWorldTennisTour pic.twitter.com/RJh33FroOv
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) August 10, 2026
Schoenhaus faces top seed Piros on Tuesday
The men’s first-round action continues on Tuesday, with top seed Zsombor Piros of Hungary (ATP No. 123) facing rising German prospect Max Schoenhaus (ATP No. 312).
“That’s obviously a big challenge right away,” the 19-year-old from Soest said ahead of the match. “But if you want to go deep in a tournament, you have to be able to beat anyone. I’ll try to play freely and I’m looking forward to the match.”
The match is scheduled for Center Court and is set to begin at 11 a.m.
Admission to the Hamburg Ladies & Gents Cup is free.
