Former Champion Klizan Overcomes Mayer In Munich

Martin Klizan continued his strong run of form at the BMW Open by FWU on Monday, beating 2011 finalist Florian Mayer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The 2014 champion (d. Fognini) converted six of his 15 break point opportunities en route to victory in a match lasting just over two hours. Klizan improves to 8-1 in the Bavarian capital and sends Mayer to his 10th consecutive loss at tour-level.

Klizan, who defeated Novak Djokovic in Barcelona and became the first man to win five games in a set against Rafael Nadal on clay since the 2017 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, will meet Mirza Basic or seventh seed Gael Monfils in the second round.

Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann scored his first win of the 2018 ATP World Tour season, defeating two-time Munich semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-4. The 2017 quarter-finalist hit six aces and dropped just one point on his second serve (7/8) to advance to the second round after 59 minutes. The Munich resident will face top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev for a place in the quarter-finals.

Matthias Bachinger also secured his first win of the season at his home event, defeating Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-3. The Munich-born World No. 163 hit 10 aces in the two-hour, 42-minute win and will meet reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung in the second round.

Did You Know?
Martin Klizan has only lost one main-draw match at the BMW Open by FWU. Klizan won eight matches from qualifying on his main-draw debut in 2014 to win the title, before falling in the quarter-finals last year to Hyeon Chung.