As in the previous year, Maximilian Marterer reached the second round of the 136th All England Championships with a convincing performance at times.
In a match interrupted by rain for around one and a half hours, the 28-year-old from Nuremberg defeated the Croatian Borna Gojo, who is 58 positions above him in the world rankings, 7: 5, (6: 7 (8:10), 6: 3, 6: 4.
Marterer, ranked 170th, had fought his way through qualifying beforehand. He won the decisive match to move into the main draw in the fifth set (7:5) against the Hungarian Fabian Maroszan.
Another compatriot followed Marterer a few hours later: Oscar Otte from Cologne, who made it into the main draw after three victories in qualifying, won the German duel against Doiminik Koepfer from Furtwangen 7:5, 6:3, 7:6 (11 :9) – also thanks to his 21 aces.
“It was extremely lacking to win many matches in a row,” he said, clearly relieved.
Anna-Lena Friedsam was the first of the ten German tennis professionals to be eliminated. At the start of the first day of the tournament, the 29-year-old from Neuwied lost to American Alycia Parks (22) in a tough 1:41 hours 4:6, 3:6. It was her fourth defeat in her fourth duel with number 51 in the world rankings.
Wimbledon: Alexander Zverev and Co. start on Tuesday
In the largely balanced match at a moderate level, Friedsam, who was ranked 87th and had already reached the third round in the All England Club in 2016, conceded the decisive break in the first set to make it 3: 5.
A short time later she lost her service in the first game of the second round, also losing the match.
Like Alexander Zverev, the three other German women will only enter the tournament on Tuesday. Tatjana Maria, who reached the semi-finals last year, meets Sorana Cirstea, last year’s quarter-finalist Jule Niemeier meets French Open finalist Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic).
Tamara Korpatsch, who entered the main draw as a “lucky loser”, will play against Canadian qualifier Carol Zhao.