He put up a good fight and held out for a long time, but ultimately lost in two sets. Tom Gentzsch, the only German player to reach the qualifying finals of the 33rd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN, has missed out on a place in the main draw. He suffered a 5-7, 4-6 defeat against Spain’s Martin Landaluce (ATP 58).
“My opponent played well and directly,” said Gentzsch, who is currently ranked 229th in the ATP world rankings. “I’m naturally disappointed, but I can take a lot away from this. This was my second grass-court tournament and I believe I can build on this.” The 22-year-old recently made his Grand Slam debut at the French Open, where he reached the third qualifying round. He also made his grass-court debut in Stuttgart the week before.
Nikoloz Basilashvili has made it into the main draw of the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN for the fifth time. The 34-year-old Georgian, who reached the semi-finals in Halle in 2021 (losing to Andrey Rublev), defeated Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in a somewhat surprising 6-4, 6-4 victory. Basilashvili, who has only managed to impress on clay so far this year in Rome (reaching the round of 16 as a qualifier), has slipped to 118th in the world rankings; perhaps things will start looking up again in East Westphalia. His connection to Halle: he used to be based at the Breakpoint-Base and played for TC Blau-Weiß Halle in the Bundesliga.
Belgian Raphael Collignon has also reached the main draw of the 33rd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. In the qualifying final, the number one seed defeated 38-year-old Spanish veteran Roberto Bautista Agut, who was ranked number 9 in the ATP in 2019, 6-2, 6-4. For Collignon, currently ranked 51st in the ATP world rankings, this is his first appearance in Halle. The 24-year-old impressed particularly with his powerful serve, hitting a total of twelve aces and winning 79 per cent of points on his first serve.
Another Italian has made it through to the main draw. Mattia Bellucci, ranked 78th in the world, defeated Alex Bolt (ATP 157) of Australia 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. The match lasted almost three hours, including a rain delay.
