Jan-Lennard Struff also lost the second game of his grass court season this year. In the first round of the ATP-500 tournament in Halle/Westphalia, the German Roberto Bautista Agut from Spain lost 4:6, 1:6.
Local hero Struff thus remains without individual success even after his sixth start in the main field in Halle. A week ago, the world rankings 67th at the start of the grass court season in Stuttgart had also failed in the first round due to 17-year-old talent Rudolf Molleker.
Bautista Agut will face the winner of the duel between Joao Sousa and Robin Haase in the round of 16.
On the first day of the €2 million Wimbledon test in Halle, two more German players are on duty after Struff. Qualifier Matthias Bachinger meets Japanese Kei Nishikori, and wildcard owner Maximilian Marterer plays in the second German-Japanese duel of the day against Yuichi Sugita. On Monday afternoon Dominic Thiem will also enter the tournament against Mikhail Youzhny.
In addition, six other Germans have the chance to reach the round of 16. In addition to the Zverev brothers Alexander and Mischa, the former title holders Philipp Kohlschreiber and Florian Mayer as well as Peter Gojowczyk and the World Ranking 286th Molleker will not enter the tournament until Tuesday. The same applies to world number one and record winner Roger Federer (Switzerland), who is playing for his tenth title in Halle.