Challenger Marbella: German festival and good news for Dominic Thiem
Four games, four wins: The main draw matches could not have started better for the German players at the Challenger tournament in Marbella. Meanwhile,Dominic Thiem received supposedly good news on Stan Wawrinka's 37th birthday.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 28, 2022, 08:39 pm
by Nikolaus Fink from Marbella
At a time that was almost unchristian by Spanish standards, Johannes Haereis entered Court 7 in the "Club de Tenis Puente Romano" at 10:00 sharp. However, the German should not see much land against Alexander Shevchenko, with 3: 6 and 2: 6 the world number 536 drew. the shortest in the final qualifying round.
It should be the last bad news from a German perspective this Monday. Yannick Hanfmann got the ball rolling with an extremely confident 6:3 and 6:0 win over Mario Vilella Martinez, and Philipp Kohlschreiber also bought his second-round ticket. The veteran pulled the tooth of the 20-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka with his varied game towards the end of the game and won 2:6, 6:2 and 6:1.
Peaceful WINS after roller coaster ride
On the women's side, Nastasja Schunk again delivered a talent test. The 18-year-old, who was still in the main competition of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami the week before, beat the Pole Katarzyna Kawa 6: 1 and 7: 6 (5). A little later, Anna-Lena Friedsam defeated Irene Burillo Escorihuela 6:1, 5:7 and 6:3. But not without drama: The German had already led 5: 1 in set two and missed several match points.
On Tuesday, the two really big draw horses of the tournament will be involved for the first time. Stan Wawrinka, who was surprised with a cake by tournament director Florian Leitgeb on Monday for his 37th birthday, meets Elias Ymer in the second match after 10:00 a.m., Dominic Thiem then has to deal with Pedro Cachin. Meanwhile, Fernando Verdasco has had to pull out of Marbella due to stomach problems. The Spaniard, who leads 4-1 head to head with Thiem, would have been a possible second-round opponent for the Austrian. He will now be replaced by Javier Barranco Cosano.