Top seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a set down to defeat countryman Yannick Hanfmann 6-7(12), 6-4, 6-2 at the BMW Open by FWU on Wednesday.

“I am always happy to get a win like that,” reflected Zverev. “Obviously [Hanfmann] played one of the best matches of his life today, so I wish him all the best and I hope he is going to continue playing like this in the next few weeks.”

The defending champion appeared to be in danger of an early upset after Hanfmann converted his seventh set point in a marathon first-set tie-break, but Zverev put the disappointment of failing to convert two set points of his own behind him to secure victory. The 21-year-old German improves to 9-3 in the Bavarian capital and will bid for a tenth victory at the event against Jan-Lennard Struff.

“It was great,” said Zverev. “I love playing in Germany as everybody knows. I love playing in front of my home crowd.”

Zverev leads Struff 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, most recently defeating his compatriot in three sets at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters last month.

Australian Open semi-finalist Hyeon Chung cruised into the BMW Open by FWU quarter-finals on Wednesday, defeating Munich native Matthias Bachinger 6-1, 6-1.

Chung, who broke into the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on 2 April, lost only three first-service points in the 58-minute clash to record his 19th win of the season. The 22-year-old also saved all five break points he faced and converted five of his seven break opportunities in his first appearance since losing to eventual champion John Isner at the Miami Open presented by Itaú.

The inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals winner will face 2014 champion Martin Klizan for an opportunity to equal his 2017 debut result at the event (l. to Pella).

Slovakian qualifier Klizan recovered from a 0-3 deficit in the deciding set to beat Mirza Basic of Bosnia & Herzegovina 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and three minutes. It was his ninth win in 10 matches at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament.

Jan-Lennard Struff won his all-German encounter with Yannick Maden 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. The World No. 62 hit 12 aces in the one-hour, 40-minute win to improve to 8-4 at the event. Struff won six matches from qualifying in 2014, before falling to Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the semi-finals.

Did You Know?
This will be the second consecutive year that Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff have met in the BMW Open by FWU quarter-finals. En route to the title last year, Zverev defeated Struff 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5).

Roger Federer announced on Wednesday that he will return to ATP World Tour action at the Mercedes Cup, held 11-17 June.

The 36-year-old will appear in Stuttgart for the third time in his career, after falling in the first round in 2017 (l. to Haas) and reaching the semi-finals in 2016 (l. to Thiem). Federer won two titles on grass in 2017 (Halle, Wimbledon) and will be bidding for an 18th title on the surface in Stuttgart, which will mark the beginning of his grass-court schedule leading towards The Championships at Wimbledon.

Federer shared the news with more than 15 million fans on Facebook on Wednesday morning. “Excited to announce that I will be coming back to Germany for the Mercedes Cup in June,” said Federer. “Looking forward to seeing you at the grass courts in Stuttgart!”

The Swiss star holds a 164-24 FedEx ATP Win/Loss Record on grass, winning 87.2 per cent of matches on the surface. Federer will be joined in Stuttgart by defending champion Lucas Pouille, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic and reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung.

Following on from Stuttgart, Federer will travel to Halle in search of a record 10th title at the Gerry Weber Open, having triumphed for a ninth time at the event in 2017 (d. Zverev).

Kyle Edmund booked his place in a fourth tour-level quarter-final of the year on Wednesday at the Millennium Estoril Open. The third-seeded Briton proved to be too strong for 19-year-old Australian wild card Alex de Minaur 6-2, 7-5 in one hour and 37 minutes.

De Minaur worked his way back from a 2-4 deficit in the second set, but had his serve broken in the 11th game when he hit a backhand slice wide at 15/40. Edmund calmly closed out to love for his 12th match win of 2018, which includes a runner-up finish at the Grand Prix Hassan II (l. to Andujar) and an Australian Open semi-final exit (l. to Cilic).

Edmund will next face Joao Sousa, who saved two match points at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second set to beat World No. 143 Pedro Sousa 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-5 in two hours and 25 minutes. Pedro Sousa lead 5-3 in the deciding set, but Portuguese No. 1 Joao Sousa won four straight games — including a 22-point final game, which he clinched on his fifth match point.

Two days after saving three match points against Tennys Sandgren, #NextGenATP star Frances Tiafoe overcame a tense second set to eliminate fourth seed Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5. The 20-year-old American clinched the first set 6-4 but Muller, a finalist in 2017, raced out to a 4-1 lead early in the second.

Tiafoe broke back in the seventh and 11th games of the set, then closed out the match with an ace to secure his place in the quarter-finals, where he’ll face Simone Bolelli. The Italian qualifier battled from a set down to defeat Federico Delbonis 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the last match of the day.

Serbia’s Laslo Djere reached the BMW Open by FWU quarter-finals for the second successive year on Wednesday, defeating third-seeded Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in two hours and 16 minutes.

Djere trailed by two breaks of serve in the first set, before securing six straight games to take a one-set lead. The Italian levelled the match, winning a tight second set, but Djere regained control with a crucial break of serve in the eighth game of the decider. The World No. 110 entered Istanbul on a 10-match losing streak, with his last win coming in the opening week of the season at the Tata Open Maharashtra against Marius Copil.

Djere will meet qualifier fifth seed Paolo Lorenzi for a place in the semi-finals. Lorenzi defeated qualifier Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-2, 7-6(5) in one hour and 57 minutes.

Like Seppi, fourth seed Aljaz Bedene also crashed out at the second-round stage after reaching the semi-finals in Budapest last week.

Japan’s Taro Daniel dropped just four games to beat the Bedene 6-2, 6-2. The 25-year-old broke his Slovenian opponent on four occasions, winning 68 per cent of second-serve return points throughout the 80-minute contest. Daniel progresses to the quarter-finals where he will meet Rogerio Dutra Silva. The Brazilian stunned sixth seed Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-3.

Did You Know?
Andreas Seppi and Aljaz Bedene both reached the Gazprom Hungarian Open semi-finals last week. Seppi and Bedene both led by a set in their semi-final encounters before losing in three sets to eventual champion Marco Cecchinato and Australia’s John Millman respectively.

Marin Cilic makes his return to the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open this week with fond memories to fuel his campaign, not least from having won the title in 2017 as a wild card. It marks the 29-year-old’s first tournament as a married man.

It was only last weekend the Croatian wed his long-time girlfriend Kristina Milkovic in a ceremony in Dubrovnik. Now he sets about re-igniting his season at the same tournament which kick-started an impressive 2017.

“It was not easy to find a date [for the wedding],” Cilic said. “I said after the wedding, ‘OK I’m going to Istanbul, I’m going to go on my own.’ She said, ‘You can’t go alone for the first week [of married life].’ So she was coming. 

“[Kristina] is always great support, standing by my side. That is something that has given me a lot of strength and inner peace. So for here, we’ll see… whether I’ll have more strength, more motivation, hopefully yes.”

After reaching the Australian Open final in January, where he fell to Roger Federer in five sets, Cilic rose to a career-high No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. The Croatian has made no secret of it since he holds high hopes of ascending to the top.

“Yes, my ultimate goal is to reach No. 1,” Cilic said. “I feel at the moment I’m in a great position. I started the year with a nicely played final at the Australian Open, played the final at Wimbledon last year, also. This gives me the confidence that I know I have those abilities to be in the Top 5 in the world. That’s the goal for this year, to stay in the Top 5 and, also, to win another Grand Slam. 

“I know that it’s also very challenging. The competition is very strong, and also very demanding. It’s not easy to keep your focus, your level of play for every single tournament. Roger and Rafa are showing they are playing to win every single tournament. I’m working for that every single day and hopefully I’ll make it.”

Cilic is back in Istanbul as the top seed. He did not drop a set on his way to the title last season, with victories over this year’s No. 2 seed Damir Dzumhur, last year’s top seed Milos Raonic and 2016 champion Diego Schwartzman. Victory ensured he had won an ATP World Tour title for 10 straight seasons. He opens his 2018 campaign against Tunisian Malek Jaziri on Thursday.

“If we go back this time last year, Istanbul was [the start of] my great form that I built up at the French Open [Roland Garros] and later to Wimbledon,” Cilic said. “Even though clay and grass are very different, if you are playing well on clay it gives you that good confidence for Wimbledon and for grass tennis. So that’s also one of my goals this year, to keep that good form, to try to play well here and to continue to have good tournaments until the French Open and beyond.”