Early exit for shooting star Joao Fonseca. The 17-year-old NextGen player from Brazil, who had been given a wild card by TERRA WORTMANN OPEN Tournament Director Ralf Weber, lost 4:6 and 4:6 to qualifier James Duckworth in round one. It was Fonseca's first grass court match at ATP Tour level. The world number 217 had gained experience on the green surface on the Challenger Tour in Surbiton and Nottingham in June. There he won in round one and was then eliminated in the round of 16.
Duckworth, who played his way through qualifying with victories over Aslan Karatsev and Corentin Moutet to move up to 88th in the world rankings, was the better player when the rallies came. Fonseca served well, but despite many aces (six in the first game alone, 14 in total), he conceded many break points. Duckworth used the eighth to make it 4:3, and then won the fifth set point on his own service to make it 6:4. In set two, Duckworth managed to break for 2:1 and also won the second set 6:4. The 32-year-old will now play the fifth seed from Poland, Hubert Hurkacz.
Also in the round of 16: Arthur Fils from France. The number 37 in the ATP world rankings defeated Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic 6:4 and 6:4. The world number 36 was 3:0 up in the first set, but Fils turned the match around. In the second, the 20-year-old Frenchman took his opponent's serve at 2:1 early on and served without any problems until 5:4. Fils had to fend off three break points and finally converted his third match point to advance to the last 16. He will now play Germany's Dominik Koepfer for a place in the quarter-finals.
