Tuesday brought shocking results at the Hamburg Open in Germany, where second-seeded Ben Shelton and fourth-seeded defending champion Flavio Cobolli both fell to unexpected defeats.
In the biggest surprise of the day, German player Daniel Altmaier delivered a stunning blow to World No. 6 Shelton, winning 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a marathon match lasting two hours and 51 minutes. The victory sends Altmaier into the quarterfinals despite entering the tournament ranked No. 65 with just a 4-13 record this season. Shelton appeared poised for victory when he held a 5-4 lead in the second set with a chance to close out the match on his serve, but Altmaier mounted a dramatic comeback.
In another major upset, Peruvian qualifier Ignacio Buse eliminated Italy’s Cobolli with a straight-set victory of 6-2, 7-5 in just one hour and 31 minutes. Buse dominated the match by recording more winners than his opponent 15-13 and never allowed Cobolli a single break point opportunity.
Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, the tournament’s top seed, successfully navigated his opening match by defeating Vit Kopriva of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1. Additional victorious players included Russia’s fifth-seeded Karen Kachanov, Italy’s seventh-seeded Luciano Darderi, France’s Ugo Humbert, and American lucky loser Aleksandar Kovacevic. The second-round contest between sixth-seeded Tommy Paul and Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry had to be halted due to insufficient light, with each player claiming one set 7-6 (5).
At the Geneva Open in Switzerland, Norway’s sixth-seeded Casper Ruud bounced back from his recent loss to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the Italian Open final by defeating Jenson Brooksby 6-3, 7-5 in first-round action. The world No. 17 Ruud capitalized on half of his break point opportunities, converting five of 10 chances against Brooksby, who managed more winners 28-21 but also committed significantly more unforced errors 22-12.
Other Geneva Open results included Spain’s eighth-seeded Jaume Munar’s dominant 6-0, 6-3 victory over American qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy, Belgium’s Raphael Collignon’s 6-3, 7-6 (5) win against France’s Adrian Mannarino, Australia’s Alexei Popyrin’s three-set triumph over French qualifier Clement Tabur 7-6 (2), 6-7 (5), 6-4, and Serbia’s Laslo Djere’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Australia’s James Duckworth.
