Indian Wells (AP) – Three of the six German tennis professionals in the main draw of the Tennis Masters in Indian Wells are in the second round.
In addition to Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, who only starts in the second round duel with Tommy Paul from the USA in the individual competition due to a bye, Dominik Koepfer and Oscar Otte are also there. Koepfer needed an energy performance for the 2: 6, 7: 5, 6: 4 against the French Benoit Paire. The 27-year-old from Furtwangen fended off four match points. In the second round of the $8,584,055 hard court tournament in California, Koepfer will now face Russia’s Andrej Rublew.
Oscar Otte had previously won his first-round match. Otte defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. In the next round he meets Poland’s number eleven seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Philipp Kohlschreiber was the first German tennis pro to drop out of the Masters, followed by Daniel Altmaier and Jan-Lennard Struff during the day. The 38-year-old Kohlschreiber from Augsburg lost to Emil Ruusuvuori from Finland 3:6, 3:6. Altmaier was beaten by qualifier Steve Johnson from the USA 3:6, 6:7 (3:7). Struff lost to John Millmann from Australia 6: 7 (6: 7), 4: 6. The event in Indian Wells is one of the most important tennis tournaments on the ATP tour.