HAMBURG, Germany (AP)—German wild card Cedrik-Marcel Stebe upset Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the German Open.
Ferrero missed two months this year with wrist and knee injuries but had an impressive win last week in Stuttgart, where he clinched his first title in 13 months. Stebe, a 20-year-old left-hander, reached the quarterfinals there.
Also, German wild card Tobias Kamke upset seventh-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-1, 6-4, and Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated defending champion Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, 7-5, 6-3.
German Davis Cup player Philipp Petzschner was upset by qualifier Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5). He didn’t want to talk about his play after the match, instead turning to soccer.
Asked to comment on Ilhan’s unexpected victory, Petzschner replied, “I hope that HSV reaches the Europa League this season.”
When asked to describe how he managed to double-fault on match point, Petzschner again mentioned the Hamburger SV Bundesliga soccer club, saying it had acquired good new players. Petzschner has criticized for a lackluster performance in the Davis Cup loss to France and for three straight first-round losses.
Jarkko Nieminen of Finland beat 10th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, and fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France cruised past Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1.