Ferrer Maintains Run Of Form In Hamburg

David Ferrer completed first-round action on Wednesday at the German Tennis Championships 2017 by beating Hamburg debutant Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in just over two hours. Eighth seed Ferrer, who reached the 2014 final (l. to L. Mayer), captured his 27th tour-level title and third crown at the SkiStar Swedish Open (d. Dolgopolov) on Sunday. The 35-year-old Spaniard will now face Argentinean Federico Delbonis in the second round.

Elsewhere, Jiri Vesely worked his way past Fernando Verdasco, who experienced his third straight first-round loss in Hamburg, in a 7-6(7), 6-7(0), 6-3 win over two hours and 45 minutes. The pair resumed at the start of the third set after rain postponed the match on Tuesday. Vesely now plays Argentinean Horacio Zeballos.

Aljaz Bedene cruised past lucky loser Jose Hernandez-Fernandez, a replacement for Rogerio Dutra Silva, in a 6-1, 6-2 win over 69 minutes. Bedene contested his second ATP World Tour final as a qualifier in Budapest at the Gazprom Hungarian Open (l. to Pouille) in April.

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Florian Mayer, playing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 12th time, became the first player into the quarter-finals after the German 2011 semi-finalist beat Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Last week, Kuznetsov reached his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the year in Båstad (l. to Dolgopolov). Mayer will face sixth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, who advanced to his sixth quarter-final of the season by outlasting Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.