Marterer takes opening win against Chile

Yannick Hanfmann (Karlsruhe) can then complete his second success after his opening win against Slovakia against Chile’s top player Alejandro Tabilo, number 22 in the world rankings. After that, it would be the turn of the top doubles Kevin Krawietz/Tim Pütz, who were defeated in the final at the US Open last week, against Barrios Vera and Matias Soto.

The first two teams from the group of four will advance to the quarter-finals – and these two could already be decided early: If Germany beats the Chileans and the USA wins against Slovakia on Friday, then the weakened DTB selection of team manager Michael Kohlmann, as well as the United States team, would already be qualified for the finals in Spain before the meeting on Saturday.

Kohlmann will have to do without his top players in China. French Open finalist Alexander Zverev had to cancel his participation early, Jan-Lennard Struff and Dominik Koepfer were injured. Henri Squire is taking part as a debutant.

The organization of the group phase in China had caused criticism at the DTB in advance, especially since the host country is not even there. Kohlmann spoke of an “arduous journey” to humid Zhuhai and the “huge effort” that this entails. The other group phases will be held in Bologna, Manchester and Valencia.