Veteran Yannick Hanfmann (Germany) put an end to the hopes of rising star Joao Fonseca (Brazil). The 34-year-old won comfortably 6-2, 6-2 and can now look forward to another match on Haller Centre Court against the newly crowned Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev (Germany).
Joao Fonseca has failed to get past the first round at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN for the past two years, and it didn’t work out this time either. Had he done so, the 19-year-old would have been the youngest player to reach the last 16 in Halle since Andrey Rublev in 2017.
But the Brazilian’s start was anything but promising. Yannick Hanfmann immediately broke the world number 25’s serve. And that wasn’t all. After less than 15 minutes, the German was leading 4-0, having not only won his service games but also managed another break. Although Joao Fonseca managed to win his next two service games, he didn’t even get a single break point when his opponent was serving. The score after the first set: 6–2 to the 34-year-old German after 32 minutes.
In the second set, it wasn’t until the score was 2-2 that Yannick Hanfmann had another break point and took it straight away. Yannick Hanfmann dominated the longer rallies; the pace on the world’s fastest surface was simply too much for the young Brazilian. Only when his first serve was on was he able to dictate play on the Haller grass. Yannick Hanfmann was clearly the better grass-court player in this match. He stuck to his game plan consistently and never let up at any point during the match. The match was over after 66 minutes.
“I played well from start to finish. The spectators gave me fantastic support. Everything really went my way. It’s my first win here on Centre Court. It really means a lot to me,” said Yannick Hanfmann, delighted with his victory, which also marks his 100th win on the ATP Tour.
