BRUNSWICK, July 5, 2015
The qualifying for the € 106,500 ATP Challenger Sparkassen Open in Brunswick has been completed.
On Sunday, the final matches took place with the top-seeds making it into the main draw. Qualifying’s number one favourite Jason Kubler defeated Peter Heller, winning 6-3, 6-1. The 22-year-old Australian only had to save one break point and closed the match after 73 minutes facing Thiemo de Bakker in the opening round.
Second favourite Karen Khachanov beat Axel Michon, winning 6-4, 6-4. The 19-year-old Russian fired six aces and won 72% of his first service points to seal victory in 90 minutes. Khachanov will take on eight seed Matthias Bachinger in the first round of the main draw.
Defending champion and the tournament’s number three Alexander Zverev will open his title defence against Dimitar Kuzmanov. The world number 327 from Bulgaria defeated Mikhail Ledovskikh in the final round of the qualifying, winning 6-7, 6-2, 6-0 in exactly two hours of play.
The last qualifier is Rogerio Dutra Silva. The 31-year-old Brazilian took out Franko Skugor in two hours and seven minutes, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to face Farrukh Dustov in the first round of the main draw.
The doubles draw is also an interesting one with the Austrian pair of Julian Knowle and Philipp Oswald as the top-seeds, facing Mateusz Kowalczyk and Igor Zelenay in the first round.
“This is the best doubles field in the history of the tournament,” tournament director Volker Jäcke told. “15 top 100-players are in the draw. Marcel Granollers, the world number 13 is one of them.” The Spaniard teams-up with fellow countryman Pere Riba to take on Frank Moser and Andreas Siljestrom in the opening round.