Alcaraz works hard to move into Hamburg second round

Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, edged out German wildcard Nicola Kuhn 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3) to advance to the second round of the Hamburg Open at Am Rothenbaum on Tuesday.

It is his first match since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon round of 16 – and also his first tournament as a top seed.

“It was tough. I mean, the first round in every tournament is tough,” said Alcaraz, according to the ATP website. “I came from the grass, and the difference was too much. I’m really happy to be [through to] the second round. I’m sure that I will be better in the next round, but I’m really happy with the win.”

Alcaraz, ranked No 6, will play the winner of the match between Argentinian Sebastian Baez and Serb Filip Krajinovic next.

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Hamburg ATP 500, other first-round results (Am Rothenbaum, clay, EUR 1.911.620, most recent results first):

• Ricardas Berankis vs. Andrey Rublev
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. Aslan Karatsev
• Federico Coria vs. Daniel Elahi Galan
• Sebastian Baez vs. Filip Krajinovic: tuesday
• Fabio Fognini beat Aljaz Bedene: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
• Pablo Carreno Busta (4) beat Luca Nardi (Q): 6-2, 6-1
• Emil Ruusuvuori beat Diego Schwartzman (3): 7-5, 6-4
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Holger Rune (8): 7-6 (8), 7-5
• Borna Coric beat Laslo Djere: 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Karen Khachanov (7) beat Jan-Lennard Struff (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Jozef Kovalik (Q) beat Max Hans Rehberg (WC): 3-6, 7-5, 6-1
• Lorenzo Musetti beat Dusan Lajovic: 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Alex Molcan beat Marko Topo (Q): 7-5, 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat Botic van de Zandschulp (5): 6-4, 6-4