Struff and Hanfmann Advance to the Round of 16

Two of the five German players who started in the BOSS OPEN main draw on Tuesday successfully booked their places in the round of 16. Kyrgios celebrates successful comeback on the ATP tour.

Yannick Hanfmann (ATP No. 59) got things started with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 7-6(4) victory over American Aleksandar Kovacevic (ATP No. 69). After 2 hours and 20 minutes, the Karlsruhe native converted his fourth match point to reach the Stuttgart round of 16 for the fourth time in his career. Next up for Hanfmann is Italy’s Mattia Bellucci, who had already caused an upset on Monday by eliminating seventh seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Jan-Lennard Struff, a familiar face at the BOSS OPEN, also advanced to the second round. The German had to work hard against Canadian qualifier Alexis Galarneau, eventually prevailing 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3 after 2 hours and 6 minutes. The challenge will become even tougher in the round of 16, where he faces third seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan.

“He hardly gives you any rhythm and feels very comfortable on grass,” said Struff about his next opponent. However, it was the German who came out on top the last time they met, in the first round of this year’s French Open. “That win is certainly a positive memory for me, but this will be a completely different match. I played him on grass once in the past. It was a good and very close match, but in the end he won that match and went on to win the tournament as well.”

The other German players were less successful. Wildcard Tom Gentzsch (ATP No. 229) delivered an impressive performance against Australia’s Rinky Hijikata (ATP No. 106). After taking the opening set, the young German eventually fell 7-6(7), 6-7(2), 3-6.

Fellow wildcard Diego Dedura (ATP No. 262) was unable to trouble experienced Australian James Duckworth (ATP No. 79), going down 4-6, 3-6.

Daniel Altmaier put up a fierce fight against 2023 BOSS OPEN champion Frances Tiafoe of the United States but also came up short in three sets. The German suffered a scare at the beginning of the third set when he slipped while hitting a backhand and required treatment on his thigh. Altmaier was able to continue but was immediately broken and eventually lost 6-7(3), 6-4, 4-6 after 2 hours and 26 minutes.

Kyrgios Celebrates Successful Comeback

The biggest surprise of the day came in the final match on Centre Court, where Australia’s Nick Kyrgios marked his return to the ATP Tour in style. Playing only his second match of the 2026 season – following a first-round loss in Brisbane during the opening week of the year – the former Wimbledon finalist, currently competing without a ranking after a lengthy injury layoff, swept aside France’s Corentin Moutet (ATP No. 36) 6-3, 6-4 in just 68 minutes.

Kyrgios broke his opponent’s serve in the very first service game of each set, and that proved enough to comfortably secure victory. The Australian will now face Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro in the second round. Shimabukuro earned his place in the round of 16 with a straight-sets win over France’s Quentin Halys.

Following his victory, Kyrgios paid tribute to the Stuttgart crowd. “I’ve had a lot of surgeries and I’m just so happy to be back out here,” he said. “The crowd was amazing. There’s no better place I could have played today.”

Asked about his physical condition, Kyrgios remained cautiously optimistic. “I’ll see how I feel tomorrow. I worked incredibly hard to make this comeback and I’m very proud of myself. It wasn’t always easy, and there were times when I asked myself why I was doing all of this. Then I look at the fans here and I know why. I do it for the fans.”