Round of 16 exit for Koepfer and Hanfmann
Lorenzo Musetti prevails in three sets against Dominik Koepfer. Defending champion Frances Tiafoe gives Yannick Hanfmann a run for his money in two sets.
The first match on center court on Wednesday turned into a thriller lasting several hours. Dominik Koepfer and the Italian Lorenzo Musetti gave each other nothing before Musetti converted his first match point after 2:47 hours to win 6-7 (9), 7-6 (5), 6-3 and become the first player to reach the quarter-finals.
Koepfer fended off a total of three set points in the first set with the support of the fans at 5-4 and 6-5 for Musetti and repeated this feat twice more in the tie-break before converting his second set point to bag the set 11-9.
The picture was reversed in the second set: The previously untouchable Italian had to fend off two break points from Koepfer in his first service game and also had slight problems on his own serve. The German, on the other hand, marched through to the tie-break, where he already had a 5-3 lead and looked like the sure winner. Just then, Musetti won four points in a row and took the second set 7-5 in the tiebreak.
In the deciding set, Musetti initially managed to break for 3-1, but the Italian had to concede the re-break practically in return. The final decision then came in the eighth game: Musetti took Koepfer's serve to make it 5-3 and then served out without problems.
“Monday it went my way, today it went against me,” commented Koepfer on the defeat after the match. "One point more in the tie-break of the second set and it might have gone my way. But I can't blame myself, I didn't play badly."
Hanfmann misses almost a dozen break chances
Yannick Hanfmann also had a realistic chance of springing a surprise. Hanfmann had no fewer than 11 break chances against American defending champion Frances Tiafoe, but was ultimately beaten 5-7, 6-7 (5).
Tiafoe struck coldly in the first set, converting one of his two break chances at 6-5 to win the set 7-5. The second set was extremely entertaining with many great rallies and history almost repeated itself: Tiafoe again found himself with a break point at 6-5 and thus also match point. Hanfmann was able to fend it off and save himself in the tie-break. But after 1:53 hours, Tiafoe converted his second match point to make it 7-5 in the tie-break and advance to the quarter-finals.
Bublik cruises into next round
The number 3 seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik made short work of Next Gen ATP Finals 2023 winner Hamad Medjedovic from Serbia. Bublik wrapped up the first set 6-10 after just 25 minutes. The second set went to a tiebreak on serve, where Bublik prevailed 7-4 and left the court as the 6-1, 7-6 (4) winner after 1:19 hours. He will now face Lorenzo Musetti in the quarter-finals.
In the last match of the day, Jack Draper from Great Britain beat Marcos Giron from the USA 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.