Casper Ruud overcomes dogged Sebastian Baez to advance in Hamburg Open, Andrey Rublev survives scare

Top seed Casper Ruud saw off a brave and determined Sebastian Baez 6-3 1-6 6-3 in a rollercoaster encounter to advance to the second round of the Hamburg Open.

His next opponent is Cristian Garin, who beat Hugo Dellien 6-7(3) 6-1 6-3.

“Really tough,” Ruud said afterwards.

“I think Sebastian is a great fighter, great player. He’s taken big steps the last year so he’ll always be a tough challenge no matter where you play him.

“It takes a little time to adjust to new conditions, new balls, new court.”

Due to rain, the match had to be played under a roof, which Ruud claimed “made a lot of difference”.

“It makes it a lot more humid, the ball is heavier and stuff, so it took a little while to adjust,” he said.

“I started well but the second set was not great but I fought well in the last and I’m very happy to be through.”

With some sensational play off the forehand, Baez was constantly keeping his opponent on his toes early on but was making too many unforced errors. He cleverly constructed a break point which Ruud managed to save in a lengthy third game.

This gave the Norwegian the confidence needed to secure a break of his own, and after holding his serve, Ruud threatened to pull away at 4-1.

In the sixth match, Ruud missed the chance of a double-break, and it was an opportunity he would rue as Baez held to love in the following game. But Ruud’s forehand worked impressively to break his opponent again and resume control, and he served successfully for the set.

In the second set, Baez toned down the errors and eventually converted a break point either side of holding serve to race into a 3-0 lead.

Baez needed a stroke of luck to fend off two break points and secure a 4-1 lead. But such was the high quality of his tennis, no one could begrudge him a slice of fortune.

A second break effectively finished the set as a contest, and Baez set up a decider by comfortably holding his serve.

The third set was nip and tuck, with service remaining unbroken until Ruud rallied from 40-0 down to clinch the break. Although Baez hit back to get back on serve, he was broken again, rendering all his efforts in vain as he proved powerless to prevent Ruud from completing the job.

Elswhere, second seed Rublev saved three match points to edge past Bernabe Zapata Miralles 5-7 6-1 7-6(7).

Rublev was staring at defeat at 4-6 down in the third-set tie-break and saved his third match point at 6-7 to prevail after a mammoth two hours and 53 minutes.

“The feeling was that I was playing well and it was under control, but somehow I lost the first set and was frustrated,” Rublev said.

“I came back and recovered mentally and won a really good second set. The third set was tough. I started to get tired and nervous, because the score is going to the tie-break and I didn’t have many chances to break him.

“The feeling was that he deserved to win. He was fighting like crazy from tough scores. When I went 0-3, I started to stress a lot. But then I played two amazing rallies and told myself to keep fighting, keep fighting… It is amazing I was able to win.”

The Russian will play Yannick Hanfmann or Zhang Zhizhen in the second round.

In the Atlanta Open, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Christopher Eubanks cruised into the second round with a 6-2 6-4 win over Andres Martin to set up a match with Brandon Nakashima.

Playing in his home tournament and making his first appearance since SW19, Eubank needed just one hour and 19 minutes to see off his compatriot, failing to drop a point on serve in the opening set.

A first ATP Tour title at the Mallorca Championships has helped Eubanks climb to No. 32 in the rankings and he is hopeful of building on the momentum gained.

“I’m hoping to continue that trajectory and see where the summer takes me. This entire year really has been a dream come true, so I’m hoping to keep it going,” he said.

Wild card Noma Noha Akugue, 19, saved two match points against Storm Hunter to progress to the quarter-final of the Hamburg Open, with the German teenager marking her first WTA main draw appearance with a fine 0-6 7-6(2) 6-4 win.

In the Ladies Open Lausanne, Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva’s run came to an end in the last 16 following a 6-7(3) 3-6 loss to Anna Bondar.

Alize Cornet is through to the round-of-16 after coming from a set down to beat Viktorija Golubic 3-6 6-1 6-3.