Tsitsipas and Ruud through to round 2 at Hamburg European Open

Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the 2nd round of the Hamburg European Open following victories against Paire and Evans.

Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas had good performances today allowing them to move on to the 2nd round of the Hamburg European Open. The Norwegian faced off against Benoit Paire who hasn't been having a great restart to the season. His fortunes weren't much better today as he got injured very early on in the match. It's unclear when he suffered the injury but despite a solid start where he lead 3-1, he called a medical timeout. A few games later he called another one as his play deteriorated over the course of the 1st set.

Ultimately he lost it 6-4 as Ruud took advantage of the diminished level of play of the Frenchman. The 2nd set didn't get far as play stopped after Ruud broke Paire to take a 2-0 lead. The Frenchman retired from the match deciding it wasn't worth the trouble.

Stefanos Tsitsipas had a tough matchup against Dan Evans in round one but he passed the test with flying colours winning against the Brit in exactly 60 minutes of play with 6-3 6-1. The match started off good for both of them as they both looked sharp and comfortable on the court. Tsitsipas being the more adept player to clay courts sruck first breaking Evans midway through the set to take a 4-1 lead. He would maintain it through the set ultimately winning it 6-3.

The 2nd set was a polar opposite one as Evans completely crumbled allowing Tsitsipas to fly all over the court. His 1st service percentage dropped from a solid 71 % to only 42 % which was simply not good enough. Stefanos broke his serve three times en route to a crushing 6-1 2nd set victory. The Greek was especially impressive on Evans's first serve winning 70 % of those points. Ultimately it was a stellar performance from the Greek who moves on to the next round where he will face Pablo Cuevas.