HAMBACH, October 5, 2016

The top seeds of the $10,000 ITF Dittelbrunn Open headlined Wednesday’s first round action with the tournament’s number one Michal Konecny beating Dominik Boehler from Germany 7-5, 6-3.

The 26-year-old Czech sent down seven aces, winning 83 per cent of his first service points to advance in one hour and 14 minutes. Konecny’s compatriot and second seed Marek Jaloviec cruised past German wild card Fabian Penkofer, losing only one game 6-1, 6-0. The world number 473 didn’t face a break point, converting six of his own to finish the encounter in only 49 minutes.

Two time Dittelbrunn Open champion (2012, 2013) and third favourite Neil Pauffley fell in his opening match to German qualifer Lukas Ruepke 3-6, 6-4, 2-6. Bother players met here one year ago with the better ending for the Brit, but this time the world number 1560 emerged victorious after two hours and five minutes.

Louis Wessels, best ranked German in the singles main draw, also did not survive the first round. The 18-year-old lost to Martins Podzus of Latvia 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 in the “match of the day”. Podzus fired seven aces and capitalized on two of his six break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 44 minutes.