World number five Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out of the Mallorca Open on Wednesday in his first match with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 defeat by Yannick Hanfmann, a worrying result ahead of Wimbledon. Following another early exit on grass at the Halle Open last week the Greek was beaten convincingly by his German opponent, ranked 48th. The Wimbledon main draw begins on July 3. Strong on his serve, Hanfmann did not face a single break point in the first set and only lost one service game in the match. The German sealed his win against the erratic top seed with a forehand down the line.
A lot of things have to work to beat a top 10 player, I had a really good start,” said Hanfmann
“With the wind and the grass, having a match on the first day was really helpful.”
Hanfmann will face either Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, in his final competition before retirement, or Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the quarter-finals of the grass court tournament.
Christopher Eubanks surprised Ben Shelton 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in an all-American battle earlier on.
France’s Arthur Rinderknech also eased past his compatriot Constant Lestienne 6-3, 6-2 and will face Eubanks in the last eight.
Adrian Mannarino plays Corentin Moutet and Lloyd Harris meets Pavel Kotov in the other quarter-finals.
