JMUNICH, April 15, 2023
The ATP Tour is back in Munich for the 2023 BMW Open by American Express. Tennis action kicked off on a chilly Saturday afternoon in front of packed stands at the venue of the MTTC Iphitos with the qualifying. Top seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia battled past Dutch veteran Robin Haase 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 in one hour and 35 minutes and will next take on Louis Wessels. The 24-year-old from Bielefeld, who lost as the No. 1 seed in the first round of the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in Telde, Gran Canaria earlier in the week, emerged victorious from the all-German fight with Daniel Masur, winning 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Local wild card entry Marko Topo knocked off No. 7 seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan 6-3, 6-4 and will next take on Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic. Italian Riccardo Bonadio, Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland, Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic and Flavio Cobolli also advanced to the final round of qualifying.
Main draw is set
Meanwhile, the main draw was revealed with top seed and defending champion Holger Rune awaiting the winner of the encounter between Thiago Monteiro from Brazil and German wild card entry Yannick Hanfmann. The bottom half of the draw is led by US-American Taylor Fritz, who will make his debut in Munich.
Home favourite and two time BMW Open champion Alexander Zverev is seeded third. The World No. 16 will play either Christopher O’Connell from Australia or Frenchman Ugo Humbert in his second-round match.
Check out our MAIN DRAW! 🏟️
We have world class tennis matches ahead of us! 🤩 What are your predictions? #bmwopenbyamex pic.twitter.com/tMPsIl60cK
— BMW Open by American Express (@BMWOpen23) April 15, 2023
Champion to receive brand new Gran Coupé BMW i4 M50
The winner of the BMW Open by American Express can look forward to a very special prize again this year. This, namely the four-door Gran Coupé BMW i4 M50, was officially presented on Friday at the BMW Group plant in Munich. The car is produced in Munich and, following its market launch in November 2021, is currently the best-selling BMW M model.
Today we hosted an exciting press conference at the BMW plant📸
We wanna thank our title partner BMW for hosting this event and for presenting the winner’s car 2023 the BMW i4 M50 🏆
Also thanks to all of our guests and interviewees for this unique event! 🏟️#bmwopenbyamex pic.twitter.com/c3ocdC5Jp9
— BMW Open by American Express (@BMWOpen23) April 14, 2023
“The BMW i4 M50 combines the best of both brands – fully electric driving pleasure from BMW i and the sportiness of BMW M the innovative Gran Coupé is the perfect winning vehicle and a great additional incentive for all players to win the title,” said Stefan Teuchert, Head of BMW Germany.
“The fact that the BMW i4 rolls off the assembly line just a few kilometers from Center Court at the main plant underscores the close and long-standing partnership between the BMW Group and the BMW Open by American Express.”
