Zverev, Tsitsipas win grass-swing openers in Halle

Alexander Zverev navigated through a tricky opening-round test Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open, where the second-seeded German defeated countryman Oscar Otte 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Aiming to go one step further than his two finalist appearances in Halle (2016, 2017), Zverev stayed patient to outlast Otte in baseline exchanges and capitalised in pressure moments with first-strike tennis to advance.

"A week ago, I was playing on clay still basically. He made it very tough for me, no rhythm at all," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "That's how grass-court tennis is sometimes and I'm just happy with the win. He did make it extremely difficult for me, so credit to him. I'm obviously happy that I won and hopefully it's going to be a level above in the next match."

The qualifier Otte routinely presented challenges to Zverev, often serve-and-volleying and absorbing the World No. 4's firepower with off-pace slice. But the Roland Garros finalist stuck with his heavy hitting, crushing 54 winners to his 40 unforced errors, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to win in two hours, 17 minutes under the OWL Arena roof.

Zverev improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Otte, who has troubled the 22-time tour-level titlist in both of their meetings. Otte led Zverev two-sets-to-love in the first round of Roland Garros in 2021 before the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion roared back to win and later reach the semi-finals.

The Rome champion, who is 35-10 on the season, next looks to extend his perfect 3-0 record against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Otte, No. 474 in the PIF ATP Rankings, was competing in his first tour-level event since Wimbledon last year. The 30-year-old revealed on Instagram in August 2023 that a knee injury suffered at the grass-court major required him to undergo surgery.

Sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas also began his grass season in winning fashion, ousting home hope Henri Squire 7-6(7), 7-6(2). The Greek saved a set point at 5/6 in the first-set tie-break.

Tsitsipas dropped just three points behind his second serve and did not face a break point throughout the hard-fought, one-hour, 32-minute match. Squire, No. 181 in the PIF ATP Rankings, went toe-to-toe with Tsitsipas for much of the evening, leaving a lot to be proud of for the 23-year-old wild card.

Tsitsipas faces Luciano Darderi or Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round. The 25-year-old is aiming for his second grass trophy (2022 Mallorca) and 12th career ATP Tour trophy. This week marks Tsitsipas’ fourth appearance in Halle. He is yet to move past the second round at the ATP 500.