Tennis pro Yannick Hanfmann continued his triumphal march at the ATP Masters in Rome. The 31-year-old from Karlsruhe defeated the Italian Marco Cecchinato 6: 4, 4: 6, 6: 3 on Monday (May 15, 2023) and is in the round of 16 of a tournament in the 1000 category for the first time in his career.
There the current number 101 in the world rankings meets Andrei Rublev from Russia or Alejando Davidovich Fokina from Spain.
Asserted against opponents and audience
“It was very emotional today. It’s not easy to play against so many people here,” said Hanfmann after the win against the local heroes, who were loudly supported by his compatriots.
Hanfmann played confidently against the 83rd in the world rankings until the end of the second set. Then he got a little confused by some of the Italian’s antics and lost his serve for the first time to make it 4:6. Previously, he had not been able to use five of his own breakballs.
But Hanfmann managed a break after a toilet break right at the beginning of the third set. After a tough struggle, he followed up with another to make it 5:2, but failed to end the match on his own serve. Cecchinato defended himself again, but Hanfmann stayed cool and, after a total of 2:20 hours, used his second match point with his 43rd direct winning shot when the Italian served.
Hanfmann had played his way into the main field through qualification. There he surprisingly defeated world number ninth Taylor Fritz from the USA in the second round 6:4, 6:1. It was only his second win against a top 10 player.
Alcaraz is surprisingly eliminated
The Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan caused a surprise. He won against Spain’s tennis high-flyer Carlos Alcaraz 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 4). The 23-year-old Marozsan, ranked 135th in the world, is in Rome for the first time in his career in the main draw of an ATP tournament.
Regardless of the unexpected defeat, Alcaraz is going into the French Open (from May 28) as a big favorite and wants to succeed his compatriot Rafael Nadal there. As of next week, Alcaraz is back at the top of the world rankings
Zverev game postponed to Tuesday
Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, on the other hand, has to be patient on the way to the round of 16. The third round game of the Hamburg player against the American Jeffrey John Wolf was canceled on Monday evening at 6: 4, 3: 3 for the German because of rain and will be continued on Tuesday. In the next round, Rublev’s compatriot Daniil Medvedev would wait.
Zverev started concentrated on the Pietrangeli court and grabbed his opponent’s first service game straight away. As a result, however, a few mistakes crept in, but the first set was not in danger.
Anger about the slippery lines
The rain, which had already caused interruptions on the first days of the tournament, now increased. Zverev repeatedly criticized the slippery lines. The referee allowed play to continue until the middle of the second half, but then sent the opponents into the dressing room. The game was supposed to be continued after more than an hour and a half, but it started raining again.