Roger Federer starts his mission of winning his 10th title at the GERRY WEBER OPEN against Slovenian Aljaz Bedene (ATP 70). This was unfolded in the Draw of the Main Field. The record-holding champion had won his ninth title at the lawn event in Halle against Germany's Alexander Zverev (ATP 3). With Bedene Federer even associates pleasant memories: On his way to his 20th Grand Slam title at the beginning of 2018 the Swiss "Maestro“ beat the Slovenian in the first round in three straight sets in Melbourne. "It's not an easy, but a manageble draw for Roger", Tournament director Ralf Weber said during the draw ceremony on the NRW-Local-Radio stage.
Germany's new superstar "Sascha“ Zverev (ATP 3) got a difficult draw - same-aged Borna Coric (ATP 36) from Kroatia. "That will probably be one of the most spectacular matches in the opening round", Tournament-Boss Weber stated. Against Coric the 21 year old Zverev even lags behind. Comparing the two he is following 1:2. However the Hamburg-born won the last duel at the ATP Masters in Miami in March. French Open finalist Dominic Thiem (ATP 7) still awaits his first opponent, he will first play one of the Qualifiers.
The other German professional players also didn't have much luck with the draw, in which the World's No. 41, Peter Gojowczyk from Muenich participated in the drawing. In an all-German duel at the start, he himself plays the 17 year old top talanted Rudolf "Rudi“ Molleker (ATP 303), the winner of the two will meet either Zverev or Coric in the second round.
Germany's No. two, Philipp Kohlschreiber (ATP 22), will have a hard start facing Hangarian Marton Fucsovics (ATP 46), who is in strong form. Fucsovics has been playing very well in the last weeks of the Tournament – summiting in defeating Gojowczyk in Genf. "That will be a tough and exciting match", Tournament director Ralf Weber said. Mischa Zverev (ATP 54), the older of the two Zverev brothers, meets Russian Tennis hope Karen Khachanov (ATP 38) in the first round. Khachanov reached the Semi-Finals at the GERRY WEBER OPEN last year.
Local patriot Jan-Lennard Struff (TC Blau-Weiss Halle/ATP 65) has also a tough first round opponant to challenge: He plays the No. four seed Roberto Bautista-Agut (ATP 16) from Spain. The rising star Maximilian Marterer (ATP 50) from Munich, who last convinced at the French Open by reaching the best of 16, will meet Japanese Yuichi Sugita (ATP 53) in the first round. 2016 winner Florian Mayer, who will end his career this year, has a very difficult task to master against France's Ass Richard Gasquet (ATP 30). The opening match of Lucas Pouille (ATP 17) against the shooting star Stefanos Tsitsipas (ATP 37) from Greece promises to be highly exciting.
