ATP Hamburg: Koepfer was the last German to be eliminated
Failed premiere: Dominik Koepfer suffered a defeat in his first appearance at an ATP tournament in Germany in front of an audience. The 26-year-old from Furtwangen lost to Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the round of 16 of the traditional tournament at Hamburg's Rothenbaum with 3: 6, 6: 3 and 3: 6 after 125 minutes.
by SID
last edit: Sep 23, 2020, 09:01 pm
The individual competition at the event, which is endowed with 1.2 million euros, takes place without German participation. Because before that, Yannick Hanfmann had also had to give up. One day after his surprising first round win against number three seeded French Gael Monfils, the Karlsruher lost to Cristian Garin from Chile 2: 6, 6: 7 (3: 7).
Koepfer started against Bautista Agut, number eleven in the world rankings, with a break, but then first lost his line and then the first set. In the second round, the Spaniard's error rate increased, his opponent converted his first set ball.
In the final phase Koepfer visibly ran out of strength. Bautista Agut only needed to keep the ball in play, and his opponent made the mistake. After 2: 3 deficit, the 32-year-old won four games in a row, the first match point was already there.
The fourth day of the tournament will be opened on Thursday by Kevin Krawietz from Coburg and Andreas Mies from Cologne. Last year's winners of the French Open in the doubles competition will meet Wesley Koolhof from the Netherlands and the Croat Nikola Mektic in the quarter-finals at 10.30 a.m.