Grand battle day at the 28. NOVENTI OPEN: As many as three top ten ace-players are in action on the second day (Tuesday, June 15th) at Halle Westphalia: Daniil Medvedev (Russia/ATP 2), German top man Alexander Zverev (ATP 6) and Andrey Rublev (ATP 7). Japanese super star Kei Nishikori (ATP 49) and routineer Philipp Kohlschreiber (ATP 128) will be playing their opening matches, too.
Zverev is facing a sparkling and demanding first-round task against Black Forester and compatriot Dominik Koepfer (ATP 53) “Dominik is the type to give 100 percent in every match and he goes to his limits” Zverev said. At the French Open the 27-year-old had held up a tough fight for “Maestro“Roger Federer in the third round, then dropped out in four tight sets. “Of course, I want to win against Sascha, too. I hope for a good match “the Davis Cup player Koepfer said. His opponent and national team colleague Zverev has reached the final twice at the ATP 500 grass event, missed the coup though to Florian Mayer (2016) and Roger Federer (2017).
TThe match between ATP „World Champion” Daniil Medvedev and local hero Jan-Lennard Struff promises to be extremely exciting, too. The 31-year-old from Warstein has come to HalleWestphalia with considerable tailwind from a convincing performance at the French Open (round of 16) and wants to trip the six years younger player from Moscow up: “This is my home tournament. I will really pick up speed here and put pressure on” Struff said. “I finally want to play in the hot phase of the tournament. “ Medvedev, the winner of the ATP Tour Finals of 2020, will debut at Germany’s most important males competition: „My goal is clear: I want to play for the title. It’s a tournament with big prestige and reputation. A victory would be great.“
Ex-champion Philipp Kohlschreiber starts into the action by playing Austrian Jurij Rodionov (ATP 135). Nishikori, a permanent guest at the NOVENTI OPEN, plays Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis (ATP 84) in his opening match.
