HAMBURG, Germany — Both the men’s and women’s defending champions recorded wins at the Hamburg European Open on Tuesday as Lorenzo Musetti beat Elias Ymer in the men’s first round and American Bernarda Pera booked her spot in the women’s quarterfinals, while top-seeded Donna Vekić was upset in her opening match.
Musetti shook off a slow start to defeat qualifier Ymer 6-4, 6-1. The 21-year-old Italian went down 3-1 in the first set before winning 11 of the next 13 games.
“At the beginning I was a little bit struggling,” said Musetti, whose first career title came at the clay-court Hamburg tournament last year when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
Musetti built on that success with another title in Naples in October and has become a fixture in the top 20 of the rankings this year.
He is seeded third in Hamburg and next plays Jozef Kovalik in the second round.
The fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev eased to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Alex Molčan in just over an hour and faces fellow German Rudolf Molleker in the second round.
Zverev issued a denial Monday in response to an allegation of assault after German media reported that the public prosecutor’s office in Berlin applied for a penalty order to be made against him. Broadcaster RTL has reported the alleged injured party was Zverev’s former partner Brenda Patea, who gave birth to their daughter in March 2021.
Fifth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo retired from his first-round match against Yannick Hanfmann as the German led 4-6, 6-2, 4-2.
Pera won her second-round match against Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (6), 6-1 to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Diana Shnaider. Pera won back-to-back titles in Budapest and Hamburg a year ago but has not reached a final since.
Seeded third, Pera is the highest-ranked player left in the women’s draw after the first-, second- and fourth-seeded players were all eliminated Tuesday.
Vekić was stunned in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss to Storm Hunter of Australia, while Eva Lys produced another surprise result as she eliminated second-seeded Mayar Sherif 6-1, 6-1. Daria Saville was another Australian with a notable upset win, beating fourth-seeded Jasmine Paolini 6-0, 7-6 (3).