Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer was beaten 2-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 by 39-year-old Tommy Haas on grass at the Stuttgart Open.
The Swiss, playing his first match in two months, won the first set but succumbed to the German in the second-set tie-break having had match point.
“It’s always special to play a close friend like Roger on grass, always lots of emotion,” said the world 302.
“I saved a match point so was able to play more freely after that.”
He added: “I even shocked myself.”
It was Haas’ fourth victory in 17 meetings against the former world number one.
The 35-year-old, who has started his build-up to Wimbledon, had not played since winning the Miami Open against Rafael Nadal in April and missed the entire clay court season.
It was only the world number five’s second defeat of the 2017 season.
Britain’s Jay Clarke has revealed he receives 15 to 20 racially abusive messages via social media a month and it is “not a surprise” when it happens.
Clarke, 18, tweeted an example of the online abuse he had received which repeatedly referred to him as a monkey and included a series of monkey emojis.
“It has happened a few times, even at juniors, it’s the first thing people go to, colour,” the teenager told the BBC.
“The first few times it’s a shock, now you’re almost waiting for it.”
The world number 394 from Derby, ranked ninth in Britain, was speaking after losing 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 in the first round of the Nottingham Open to India’s Yuki Bhambri, the world number 231.
“[It happens] when I lose to people I shouldn’t lose to or lose tight matches,” he added.
“It’s upsetting that people think like that but it’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
“It was important for other people to see. I get a lot of messages like that throughout the year. I’m sure a lot of other people do as well.”
The teenager has rapidly risen up the rankings in the last year, having been number 1,621 in the world in June 2016.
He trained with Andy Murray before the French Open and travelled with the Great Britain Davis Cup team for their recent tie against France.
Clarke said he had discussed racist abuse with other players on the tour.
“There are a few things that have happened to [Gael] Monfils and a lot of the other guys I have met on tour,” he added.
“It was something I talked about a lot when a kid. Not to expect it, but there will be people who are like that.
“Dealing with it has helped a lot. It is not that big a surprise now.”
British number four Aljaz Bedene made the quarter-finals of the Ricoh Open tournament in the Netherlands with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over the United States’ Ernesto Escobedo.
Bedene, 27, forced eight break points in the match, converting three to beat the world number 77 in 65 minutes.
The event is Bedene’s first grass-court outing after a good clay campaign took him from 94th to 52nd in the world.
He will play either fourth seed Gilles Muller or Italy’s Andreas Seppi next.
British and world number one Andy Murray will start his grass-court campaign at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club next week alongside national number two Kyle Edmund.
Davis Cup team-mate Dan Evans withdrew from the Nottingham Open on Monday with injury and is having treatment before the start of Wimbledon on 3 July.
At the Manchester Trophy, British number three Naomi Broady overcame India’s Ankita Raina 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 13 minutes.
The BBC will carry more live action as it celebrates 90 years of broadcasting Wimbledon at this year’s Championships.
Wimbledon qualifying matches will be broadcast for the first time, before the tournament starts at the All England Club on 3 July.
Sue Barker leads the TV coverage across BBC One and BBC Two, while Boris Becker returns to the BBC team.
BBC Radio 5 live has 100 hours of action, while the BBC Sport website and app will host 15 live HD video streams.
Coverage of the Championships started on radio in 1927, and a decade later TV viewers were able to switch on and catch the action.
“We are very proud to be celebrating such a long-standing broadcasting relationship with the All England Tennis Club,” said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport.
“Over the 90 years we have been able to capture so many of Wimbledon’s greatest moments, from those early days of radio commentary to the unprecedented access to the event that we have available now.
“We are delighted this year to be able to offer tennis fans even more live action by adding qualifying matches at Roehampton to our already extensive offering.”
The Roehampton event runs from 26-29 June and will be broadcast live on the BBC Sport website and app.
Two-time champions this season advance past Frenchmen
Brian Baker of the U.S. and Nikola Mektic of Croatia kicked off their grass-court season with success on Tuesday, beating Frenchmen Lucas Pouille and Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
Baker and Mektic, champions on the indoor hard courts in Memphis and the outdoor clay courts of Budapest already this season, won 82 per cent of their first-serve points to advance in 64 minutes.
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They will next face second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who advanced by walkover. Treat Huey and Robert Lindstedt had to withdraw because of a back problem for Huey, and no alternate doubles team was available to take their place.
In other doubles action, fourth seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic advanced 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 10-6 against German wild cards Andre Begemann and Jan-Lennard Struff. Marach/Pavic will meet Nicholas Monroe of the U.S. and Artem Sitak of New Zealand, who edged Steve Johnson of the U.S. and Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-5, 7-6(4).
Former champion Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club after being advised to rest by his doctor.
The 31-year-old Spaniard, who won a record 10th French Open on Sunday, said he had had a “long clay court season”.
“My body needs to rest if I am going to be ready to play Wimbledon,” said world number two Nadal, Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010.
The Aegon Championships start on 19 June, and Wimbledon on 3 July.
Nadal added: “I am sad to make this decision because I love Queen’s, I won the tournament in 2008 and every time I reached the Wimbledon final it was after playing Queen’s.”
Britain’s Andy Murray, the world number one, will defend his title at the Aegon Championships, which will feature four of the world’s top 10 men.
Alfie Hewett says not many players have done what he has achieved at the age of 19 after he became the first British player to win a French Open wheelchair singles title.
Stuttgart fans will be treated to a battle of close friends on Wednesday when Tommy Haas and Roger Federer square off in the second round of the Mercedes Cup.
The 39-year-old Haas advanced past Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on Tuesday to get another chance at Federer, the top seed who received a first-round bye.
“I felt I served well… we both struggled a little with the returns. We used our chances when we got them. The key part to winning the match was getting that one more break point than my opponent. I’m obviously very pleased and anything can happen on grass,” said Haas, who converted two of three break points.
The 35-year-old Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-3 but they haven’t played in more than three years, since the 2014 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Haas last beat Federer during the final of the 2012 Gerry Weber Open in Halle for his second grass-court crown. He also won Halle in 2009.
“We have known each other for a very long time,” Haas said of Federer. “We started to get closer around the time when my fiancée and his wife became friendlier. Then we had kids and started to hang out much more. We used to have the same agent, Tony Godsick, who is a very close friend of mine, so it was always an easy connection. [Federer] is a first-class guy. I have great times with him and I am happy to call him my friend.”
Haas, who plans to retire after this season, is making his seventh and final appearance in Stuttgart. He also advanced to the second round in 2015, the first year the tournament had transitioned from clay to grass.
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Herbert’s countryman Benoit Paire was victorious in his Stuttgart opener, ousting eighth seed Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-4. Paire landed only 45 per cent of his first serves but claimed 55 per cent of his second-serve points to advance. The 6’5” 28 year old has emerged as this season’s ATP World Tour “Iron Man” so far.
Stuttgart marks the 18th ATP or Grand Slam tournament Paire has competed at this season – the most events possible based on the calendar. The Frenchman improved to 18-17 this season and will next play German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk, who beat Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Read More: Federer: ‘There Are No More Breaks Now’
Two-time finalist and home favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber moved into the second round when former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis retired after losing the first set 6-1. Kohlschreiber is looking to return to the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings after falling out on Monday for the first time since October 2011. He will next meet American Steve Johnson.
Spaniard Feliciano Lopez improved to 4-2 against Gilles Simon in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against the seventh-seeded Frenchman. The 35-year-old Lopez will meet Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who outlasted German and 2016 Halle champion Florian Mayer 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1).
Pole Jerzy Janowicz, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2013, set-up a second-round meeting against second seed Grigor Dimitrov after prevailing against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 59 minutes. The 26-year-old Janowicz saved six of seven break points.
As the six-week ATP World Tour grass-court swing gets underway, we look at the best performers according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone.
Crushed brick has been replaced by mown lawns. Ribbed soles have been unlaced in favour of pimple-soled shoes. Baseline battles and lengthy rallies won’t be commonplace as knee-bending, dinks and sliced shots are now essential for success during the six-week grass-court swing.
World No. 1 Andy Murray was perfect on grass in 2016, with a 12-0 record (1.000), winning the two tournaments he entered: his fifth crown at the Aegon Championships (30-5 tournament record) and his second trophy at Wimbledon (53-9 event record).
The player Murray beat in both finals, Canada’s Milos Raonic, who brought on board three-time former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe for last year’s grass-court swing, went 10-2 (.833). The World No. 6 will be looking to add to his lone Grand Slam championship final appearance over the next five weeks.
France’s Nicolas Mahut, who is competing this week at the Ricoh Open, where he is a three-time champion (19-2 tournament record), had the third-best winning percentage on grass courts in 2016, going 8-2 (.800).
View Best Grass-Court Performers In 2016
Overall in ATP World Tour history, since 1973, Roger Federer leads the FedEx ATP Performance Zone for career grass-court matches with a 152-23 mark and 15 titles (.869 per cent). Federer has clinched seven Wimbledon titles and the same number at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
John McEnroe is second overall in the all-time list with a 121-20 grass-court record and eight titles (.858), followed by Murray, who has a 102-17 grass-court record and eight titles (.857). Bjorn Borg, who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon back-to-back for three straight years (1978-80) and the first player to wear pimpled grass-court soles, compiled a 61-11 mark, including six Wimbledon titles (.847). Pete Sampras, who won 10 titles and ended his career with a 101-20 tally (.835), is fifth overall.
View Best Grass-Court Performers According To FedEx ATP Performance Zone
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