The German tennis professionals most probably expected it to be different. After local hero Jan-Lennard Struff the second German Maximilian Marterer, too, had to admit defeat as early as on the first day of the Main Field at the GERRY WEBER OPEN. The surpriser at the French Open in Paris lost even though picking up quite well against the solid playing Japanese Yuichi Sugita 4:6, 7:5, 3:6.
For the visitors at the GERRY WEBER STADION is was clear quickly that the new Top 50 player from Stein by Nuernberg was putting on a more powerful, but also more risky performance - especially his forehand was letting him down much too often. Marterer seemed to be well on his way and got more points than Sugita (22:14) in the first set - but still, it didn't work out well: Materer was the first to get under pressure in the seventh game when serving and had already fended off two break points, when an ace was seen as a fault by Hawk-Eyes. Shortly after that another of the David Cup Captain Michael Kohlmann protégés' forehand went out and the break was perfect. But Marterer didn't give up, played on aggressively and got another break chance, had to admit though that Sugita's game was much more stabil. After 38 minutes the first round went to the Japanese 6:4. With this the German's game was out of line. The Bavarian lost all of the first eight points in the second set and was tailing a break once more. In comparison to the first round his boldness was rewarded by a rebreak 3:3. Marterer played quick, precise lawn tennis and served up to 6:5. Then followed a break of half an hour. The roof at the GERRY WEBER STADION had to be closed due to rain. Marterer was not bothered by the unexpected break and after the game commenced he put Sugita under pressure and used his second match point to bring it to 7:5 - fuller earned for his clear increasing performance. The longer the match, the high-classier it got. The German was the more dominant player and counterattacked an early break by the fast Asian, but Sugita went in front with an unresisting return winner on the line - and he was not going to let go of the lead. In the end the Japanese won because of making less mistakes and because of his strong defence, who converted his first match point after 2 hours and 13 minutes.
Sugita, who lost to Roger Federer last year, plays Fench Open finalist Dominic Thiem in the Round of Sixteen or the Russian GWO-warhorse Mikhail Youzhny.
