(WS News) – German wild card Justin Engel defeated Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong 7-5, 6-4 on the first day of main-draw action at the Almaty Open on Monday in Kazakhstan.
Engel, at 17 years and 13 days old, became the youngest player to win an ATP Tour-level match since a 16-year-old Carlos Alcaraz won in the first round in Rio de Janeiro in 2020. Engel is also the first player born in 2007 or later to record a win on tour. He absorbed 10 aces by Wong and saved nine of 10 break points.
Borna Coric of Croatia upset No. 7 seed Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-4, 7-6 (4). Maximilian Marterer of Germany notched a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina native Damir Dzumhur.
European Open
No. 7 seed Mariano Navone of Argentina needed three sets to overcome a challenge by Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6) in first-round action in Antwerp, Belgium.
Navone and Monteiro traded leads in the first-set tiebreaker until Monteiro moved ahead 6-5 and served for match point. Navone saved that point and wound up winning three straight points to turn the tables and wrap up the match.
Navone’s countryman, No. 6 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry, was a 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner over French wild card Richard Gasquet. Hungarian Marton Fucsovics trounced Belgium’s Raphael Collignon 6-2, 6-0, and Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena also advanced past Germany’s Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-0.
BNP Paribas Nordic Open
Matteo Berrettini edged eighth seed Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Italian first-round battle in Stockholm.
Berrettini fired off 11 aces (Darderi had none) and won 31 of 35 first-service points (88.6 percent).
No. 7 seed Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands defeated Russia’s Pavel Kotov 6-4, 6-3. Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego eked past Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-6 (1), 7-5, and Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker was a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 winner over American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
