Tournament officials at the BMW Open by FWU AG in Munich can’t seem to catch a break from Mother Nature this week. Snow disrupted qualifying matches on Sunday at the outdoor clay-court tournament. On Tuesday, rain was to blame for play being suspended and only three matches reaching completion.

In a battle of German qualifiers, Florian Mayer bested Matthias Bachinger 6-4, 6-4. Mayer, former World No. 18, returned to the ATP World Tour last week at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy in Bucharest after more than seven months off because of a torn right adductor tendon. The 32 year old will face another compatriot in the second round, No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber, who received a first-round bye.

Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan also moved into the second round after Russian Evgeny Donskoy retired because of a hip injury down 6-2, 3-0. Kukushkin, No. 88 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will face No. 5 seed Fabio Fognini of Italy or German wild card Maximilian Marterer.

The Fognini-Marterer match will be first up on Center Court on Wednesday, followed by the completion of the contest between #NextGen star Alexander Zverev and Malek Jaziri of Tunisia. Their match was suspended on Tuesday with Jaziri to serve up 5-4. The World No. 64 beat the German in straight sets last week to reach the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open BancSabadell.

Three other singles seeds are scheduled to play on Wednesday, including No. 7 Vasek Pospisil, No. 3 Dominic Thiem and No. 6 Thomaz Bellucci. Juan Martin del Potro also is scheduled to continue his comeback against German Dustin Brown.

WEDNESDAY PREVIEW

Following a rainy and snowy start to the BMW Open by FWU AG, the stars come out Wednesday in Munich. Del Potro plays in his first clay-court match since May 16, 2013. Munich marks del Potro’s fourth tournament of 2016, but his first on clay since 2013 ATP Masters 1000 Rome. The former World No. 4 has had three surgeries on his left wrist since then, and his opponent Brown is returning from a wrist injury as well. The dreadlocked German has not played since a Challenger in Jonkoping, Sweden seven weeks ago.

The final two matches scheduled on Center Court are second-rounders. No. 3 seed Dominic Thiem, who is 26-7 with two titles in 2016, meets Santiago Giraldo for a spot in the quarter-finals. Only World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has more wins this season with 28. Also in second-round action, Ivan Dodig faces No. 6 seed Thomaz Bellucci, who ended a seven-match losing streak Monday.

Gilles Simon and Nick Kyrgios visited the Autódromo do Estoril on Monday to test out some sport-tuned Peugeot cars with professional Portuguese drivers.

Simon and Kyrgios, who are the top two seeds at this week’s Millennium Estoril Open, took the passenger seat for some very high-speed laps.

“It was very nice and the first time on a track like this,” said Simon. “It was really impressive how fast the professional drivers could go, especially on the bends and their breaking. At times you think you’re doing a U-turn. It’s a lot of stress if you’re not used to it, but I had a lot of confidence in the driver.”

“It was really fun,” said Kyrgios. “To get in a car with professional drivers was scary at first, but when you get used to it you put your trust in them. They did an unbelievable job. It shook me up on the first corner, when he really hit the brakes and started drifting.”

Simon then took out one of the cars for a couple of laps under the tutelage of one of the pro drivers. Kyrgios, having only recently passed his test to drive a manual car, decided not to give it a go. “I like driving, but when I’m back home I drive a lot,” said Kyrgios.

Simon added, “My turn was slower! I did two laps, the first lap was good and saw how I could do with it. But in the second lap, I lost control on the grass. It’s a really nice place though, driving at a former Formula One track.”

Former Formula One champions Alain Prost (1984, 1987-88), Ayrton Senna (1985), Nigel Mansell (1990, 1992) and Michael Schumacher (1993) previously won Grand Prix races on the track. Senna won his first Grand Prix in Estoril.

Sixth seed Jiri Vesely recorded his sixth match win on clay this year by beating Thiemo de Bakker 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 33 minutes on Tuesday for a place in the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open second round. Vesely reached the Marrakech semi-finals (l. to Coric) earlier this month.

Fifth seed Marcel Granollers and seventh seed Teymuraz Gabashvili are also in action today.

No. 8 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas began his stay in Istanbul with a win on Monday, dismissing Adrian Mannarino in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open. The Spaniard broke the Frenchman six times in the win. Ramos-Vinolas next will play either #NextGen star Karen Khachanov of Russia or Aljaz Bedene of Great Britain.

Top seed Bernard Tomic will open his campaign against Diego Schwartzman, who prevailed on Monday in an all-Argentine battle against Facundo Bagnis 6-1, 6-4, in one hour and 11 minutes. Schwartzman reached the semi-finals last year in Istanbul, where he lost in three sets to Roger Federer.

Third seed Grigor Dimitrov, also a semi-finalist last year in Istanbul, will face Romanian qualifier Adrian Ungur in his first match. Ungur continued to produce inspired tennis in Istanbul by defeating Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-3. Ungur’s last ATP World Tour main-draw victory came in 2014 in Bucharest.

Veteran Dudi Sela put on an impressive performance in dispatching qualifier and #NextGen star Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 6-2. Sela won 71 per cent of his first-serve points and put pressure on Rublev’s serve throughout the match, earning nine break-point opportunities and converting five of them. Next up for Sela is No. 4 seed Federico Delbonis of Argentina. It will be their first meeting.