Philipp Kohlschreiber gets winning start to bid for 4th Munich title

MUNICH – Defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber began his bid for a fourth BMW Open title with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Norwegian wild card Casper Ruud on Tuesday.

Kohlschreiber saved two of the three break points he faced from the 18-year-old Ruud to set up a second-round meeting with Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.

Zeballos beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. Zeballos had previously reached the semifinals in Barcelona, where his tournament run was brought to a halt by Rafael Nadal.

The 33-year-old Kohlschreiber, who won the Munich clay-court tournament in 2007, 2012 and 2016, leads a German sextet in the second round, including Mischa Zverev, his younger brother Alexander Zverev, veteran Tommy Haas, qualifier Yannick Hanfmann and Jan-Lennard Struff.

The older Zverev defeated Dustin Brown 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3, while Struff also prevailed over a compatriot, Daniel Masur, 6-3, 6-4.

Chung Hyeon of South Korea and Argentine qualifier Guido Pella both defeated German opponents to progress. Chung prevailed 7-6 (10), 4-6, 6-3 over Maximilian Marterer, while Pella saw off Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-0, 6-2. Also, Jeremy Chardy of France beat Slovakia’s Jozef Kovalik 6-2, 6-4, Romanian Marius Copil defeated Thiago Monteiro of Brazil, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan rallied to beat Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.