Medvedev, Monfils lose

Hamburg, September 23

Daniil Medvedev lost his first match since reaching the US Open semifinals as he was beaten 6-4 6-3 by unseeded French player Ugo Humbert in the first round of the Hamburg European Open.

The top-seeded Medvedev was a break up at 4-3 in the first set but was broken twice in a row by Humbert, who is ranked 36 places below the Russian at 41st.

This was Medvedev’s only clay-court warm-up ahead of the French Open. He hadn’t played on clay for 16 months since a first-round defeat at last year’s French Open and played only at hard-court tournaments in the last 14 months. Humbert next faces qualifier Jiri Vesely.

Third-seeded Gael Monfils was also eliminated in the first round, losing 6-4 6-3 to 103rd-ranked Yannick Hanfmann. Hanfmann needed just 1 hour, 13 minutes to wrap up the win and the German will next face Cristian Garin, who swept past Kei Nishikori 6-0 6-3.

Garin is bidding to win his third trophy on clay this year.

Fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut won 6-4 6-3 against two-time defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili to set up a second-round meeting with Dominik Koepfer. Koepfer of Germany defeated Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(0) 4-6 6-1. Fabio Fognini built up momentum after a slow start to oust Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-1 7-5. Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated Lorenzo Sonego of Italy 6-2 7-6(2) and will next play Alexander Bublik, who beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2 7-6 (5). — AP