Mercedes Cup champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was a shock casualty in round one of the German Open on Tuesday.
Spaniard stunned; Kamke marches on
Mercedes Cup champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was a shock casualty in round one of the German Open on Tuesday.
The former world number one failed to maintain his winning streak in Germany as local wildcard Cedrik-Marcel Stebe claimed a surprise 6-3 6-2 victory on the Hamburg clay.
Stebe, a 20-year-old left-hander, reached the quarter-finals in Stutgart last week and he will now play 11th seed Nikolay Davydenko in round two.
Another German wildcard, Tobias Kamke, was also victorious on Tuesday after he beat seventh-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-1 6-4 in the second round.
Bizarre
While his countrymen advanced, German Davis Cup player Philipp Petzschner was upset by qualifier Marsel Ilhan of Turkey, then stunned reporters with bizarre answers to questions about the match.
Asked to comment on Ilhan's unexpected 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-5) victory, Petzschner replied, "I hope that HSV reaches the Europa League this season."
Petzschner has been under fire for a lackluster performance in Germany's Davis Cup loss to France and for three straight first-round losses.
Russian fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny reached the third round after holding his nerve to dispatch Argentina's Carlos Berlocq 7-5 7-6 (9/7).
Elsewhere, Finn Jarkko Nieminen beat 10th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3 1-6 6-4, fifth-seeded Gilles Simon cruised past Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2 6-1 and Fabio Fognini beat Victor Crivoi of Romania 6-1 7-5.
Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, Juan Monaco of Argentina and Spaniards Pablo Andujar and Daniel Gimeno-Traver also progressed from the first round.
