Too bad, Dustin! Rastaman Dustin Brown lost unfortunately in the first round of Qualifying at the 26th GERRY WEBER OPEN. In 2014, he had even conquered Nadal, but today he lost in three Tie-Breaks to the Italian Matteo Berrettini 7:6(5), 6:7(5), 6:7(4). With this his difficult season 2018 is continuing.
Also having lost his match, Kroatian Ivo Karlovic has to go home. The serving giant was just as unlucky in the Tie-Break as Dustin Brown and lost 6:7(5), 6:7(2) against Lukas Lacko. Top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon, - once a Top-Ten player - has to pack his bags, too. He lost to Denis Istomin mit 6:4, 6:7(7), 6:7(5) in a highly dramatic match. Simon had already led 4:1 in the last set and saved a matchpoint.
German Yannick Maden, who reached the Qualifying by Wild Card, did better. He conquered the Russian Evgeny Donskoy easily 2:6, 7:5, 6:1 and will meet Lacko in the finals of the Qualifying. One more then and Yannick Maden is through to the Main Field at the GERRY WEBER OPEN and this would mean another major step for the 28 year old from Stuttgart on his way into the Top 100. He was already nearly there at the beginning of May.
An old acquaintance from Russia is on his way into the Main Field: Mikhail Youzhny, 35 years old, wants to fight like in the good old days in Halle. He even reached the Finals here in 2013. He defeated the Belgian Ruben Bemelmans in the Qualifying 7:6(4), 6:2.
