Three of the four German players got through to the second round in the opening day of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, the first tournament of the grass season.
Number 6 seed Misha Zverev dropped just six points on serve in the entire match and won 84 percent of his service points to beat cruise through to a 6-3 6-1 win over Malek Jaziri after just 53 minutes. Zverev, the elder brother of Rome Masters 1000 champion Alexander Zverev, got two breaks and dropped just two points on serve to win the first set. He broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to ease through to a comfortable win in the second set.
The German player, who reached the quarter final at the Australian Open last January but lost in the first round at Roland Garros, never faced a break point. He will face Yannick Hanfmann, who converted five break points to edge past Hungarian qualifer Marton Hucsovics 6-3 7-5
Jan-Lennard Struff fended off all eight break points he faced to edge Lukas Lacko 6-4 7-6 (7-3) after 1 hour and 29 minutes. Struff broke serve once in the seventh game to win the first set. Both players went on serve without breaks until the tie-break where Struff took the 7-3 win.
US Steve Johnson came back from one set down to overcome Maximilian Marterer 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 after almost two hours. Johnson set up a second round against either Marcos Baghdatis or Phillip Kohlschreiber. Marterer got a double break in the opening set. Johnson goto ne break back but Marterer dropped just one point in his next three service games. The second set went on serve without breaks until the tie-break where Johnson prevailed by 7-2. The US player got one break to clinch the third set.
The best matches on Tuesday are Gilles Simon vs Feliciano Lopez, Marcos Baghdatis-Phillip Kohlschreiberand Viktor Troicki vs Benoit Paire. Roger Fedeer will make his debut against either Tommy Haas or Pierre Hughes Herbert on Wednesday.
