Lucky loser Jesper de Jong made the seventh seed Tomas Machac sweat a lot. In the end, the favourite Czech prevailed 7:5, 3:6 and 6:3 after 2:13 hours. The 32nd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN is now finally over for the Dutchman. The 25-year-old had lost to Laslo Djere in the qualifying final on Sunday and benefited from the withdrawal of Polish serving giant Hubert Hurkacz on Monday.
Jesper de Jong was therefore allowed to play again on Tuesday and he played courageously and cheekily. Set one was a very even affair, with Tomas Machac capitalising on the only break chance of the entire round to break and win the set. The next set was more break-heavy. The world number 93 from the Netherlands took Machac's serve (ATP 23) to make it 4:1, but then conceded another break at 4:3 only to immediately snatch the Czech's service again - 6:3. Set three was another break festival, this time with the better ending for Tomas Machac, who won his first match in Halle at the second attempt.
Tomas Martin Etcheverry has reached the second round on his debut in Halle. The clay court specialist from Argentina defeated Spain's Pedro Martinez by a clear 6:1 and 6:3. The next task for the 25-year-old from La Plata will be much tougher: Etcheverry will now challenge the number four seed Andrey Rublev.
Etcheverry's compatriot Francisco Cerundolo, on the other hand, was knocked out early on in his racquet debut in Halle. He won the first set against Alex Michelsen from the USA 6:2, but then lost the match 5:7 and 4:6. Michelsen will now play against the Greek Stefanos Tsitispas.
The 2021 semi-finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime is also through to round two. The Canadian beat qualifier Laslo Djere (Serbia) 6:3, 6:7 and 6:1. Auger-Aliassime, who beat Roger Federer on his way to the final round in 2021 (it was the Swiss legend's last match in Halle), will play the winner of Zizou Berg's match against Karen Khachanov in the round of 16.
