Tennis professional Yannick Hanfmann lost the first round game at the ATP tournament in Halle against defending champion Jannik Sinner despite good performance.
The Karlsruher had to give up the world rankings on Tuesday afternoon after a decent game, especially in the first set, was beaten 5: 7, 3: 6. Sinner meets the Kazakh Alexander Buthskin in the round of 16, who won the tournament in 2023.
Hanfmann strong on his own serve
For defending champion Sinner it was the first game on lawn this season and the first game since his final defeat at the French Open in Paris against Carlos Alcaraz nine days ago. The previous two encounters at the US Open 2023 and Wimbledon 2024 had decided to do Sinner, with Hanfmann being able to take a sentence at the legendary Rasm tournament in England.
Hanfmann, currently in 138th place in the world rankings, showed no signs of nervousness right from the start. The 33-year-old in particular brought his own service games confidently. The Karlsruher had previously qualified for the tournament and looked familiar with the surface. In his last service game of the first set, Hanfmann was no longer able to fend off the Italian’s third breakball and had to hand over the set 5: 7.
A break is enough for Sinner
Right at the beginning of the second set, Hanfmann won two break balls, which he could not use. Quite different Sinner, who won the break in Hanfmann’s third serve game in the second set and thus made the preliminary decision. At 5: 3 and its own surcharge, Sinner used his first of two match balls with an ace to win after 1:30 hours.
Our sources:
- Game of Yannick Hanfmann against Jannik Sinner on June 17, 2025
