MEERBUSCH, August 14, 2018

Three qualifiers booked their spot in the second round of the Tennis Open Stadtwerke Meerbusch on Tuesday. World No. 423 Zizou Bergs caused the biggest upset of the day by knocking the top seed of the €43,000 ATP Challenger event, Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol of Spain, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In his very first main draw match on the ATP Challenger Tour, Bergs broke his opponent’s serve five times to seal victory in one hour and 49 minutes. The 19-year-old Lommel native will next take on Jan Choinski of Germany.

“It was fantastic to watch Zizou fighting on court today. He also received a lot of support from the crowd,” tournament director Marc Raffel commented.

With Nicola Kuhn another qualifier advanced to the second round. The teenager from Spain eased past Maxime Janvier of France 6-1, 6-3 in only 64 minutes. Kuhn will next play Dimitar Kuzmanov of Bulgaria, who clinched two ITF Pro Circuit titles on German soil this season.

Jelle Sels completes the trio of qualifiers still standing in the singles draw. The World No. 368 from the Netherlands defeated Spaniard Carlos Boluda-Purkiss 6-3, 7-5. Sels saved seven of the eight break points he faced, capitalizing on three of his own to prevail in one hour and 38 minutes. The 23-year-old from Alphen aan den Rijn will next take on No. 2 seed and recently crowned Isar Open champion Pedro Sousa of Portugal, the highest ranked player in the draw.

Kevin Krawietz continues his good of form by knocking out No. 5 seed Ivan Nedelko of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(3). The 26-year-old German, who appeared in the semi-finals of the Isar Open last week, outpointed his opponent 94-85 to prevail after two hours and three minutes.

Nedelko with the backhand slice of the year pic.twitter.com/fTIQim8P9P

— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) 14. August 2018