Tennis News: Hamburg European Open - Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beats Botic van de Zandschulp

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina broke the serve of his Dutch opponent six times to ensure a straight-set victory. He made excellent use of his return game to move ahead despite being broken by Botic van de Zandschulp twice in each set. The in helped the 23-year-old Spaniard to improve his ATP Head2Head record against de Zandschulp to 2-1, with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina losing in straight sets at their previous meeting in the quarterfinals of Queen's Club Championships.

The victory improved the win-loss record of Alejandro Davidovich Fokina against higher-ranked players to 8-12, including the win against then World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will lock horns with Jozef Kovalík of Slovakia in a second-round clash on July 20. The 29-year-old Slovakian advanced to the second round after bouncing back from a set down to beat wild card Max Hans Rehberg of Germany 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Karen Khachanov wins against Jan-Lennard Struff in Hamburg

Home hope Jan-Lennard Struff lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-2) to World No. 26 Karen Khachanov of Russia after a thrilling third-set tiebreak on July 18.

Jan-Lennard Struff was leading 6-5 in the final set, but Karen Khachanov roared back to make it 6-6 and won the third set tiebreak 7-6(7-2). The 26-year-old Russian served 11 aces, converted three break points off five opportunities and won 71% of the points of the first serve to secure a second-round spot

Karen Khachanov is looking to improve his quarterfinal run at Hamburg European Open in 2017. He will lock horns with the winner of the first-round clash between Fabio Fognini or Aljaz Bedene in the second round of the ATP 500 event.

Alex Molcan of Slovakia also booked a second-round spot after securing a straight-set 7-5, 6-3 victory against teenage qualifier Marko Topo of Germany.