Top seed Philipp Kohlschreiber scraped past the opening hurdle on a mixed day for seeds at the ATP German Open in Hamburg.
Playing in front of home crowd, Kohlschreiber moved past Argentina’s Pablo Cuevas, winning 6-3 6-7 6-3 in a grueling battle that lasted two hours and 36 minutes.
Kohlschreiber began the match with near perfect serve as he won all of his 10 points on first serve and didn’t offer a single break point opportunity to take the first set.
Berlocq, however, held his nerves to equalize via a thrilling tiebreaker in the second, before Kohlschreiber found his rhythm back and produced a first set-like performance to make early progress.
SEEDS PAIRE, ZVEREV DUMPED OUT
Second seed Benoit Paire of France, however, suffered a stunning 7-5 3-6 6-4 defeat at the hands of 156th-ranked Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in a match that witnessed an aggregate of 14 service breaks. Paire committed as many as 43 unforced errors and only managed to convert one-third of the 21 break point opportunities.
Local hope Alexander Zverev, the No. 4 seed, also stumbled to a surprise exit following a 7-5 7-6 loss to Spanish journeyman Inigo Cervantes.
Elsewhere, seventh seed Martina Klizan overcame a second-set blackout to eke out a 6-4 1-6 6-3 win over Igor Sijsling. Eighth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also got off to a winning start after edging Kenny De Schepper 5-7 6-2 7-6 in a thriller.
