Masters in Rome – victory against top player Fritz: Hanfmann creates a small sensation

Tennis pro Yannick Hanfmann caused a big surprise in Rome. He defeated a top player.

Tennis pro Yannick Hanfmann caused a big surprise in Rome and stormed furiously into the third round of the ATP 1000 tournament. In round two of the Clay Court Masters, the qualifier from Karlsruhe beat ninth in the world rankings Taylor Fritz from the USA 6:4, 6:1 and now meets Marco Cecchinato from Italy. For Hanfmann it was only the second career success against a top 10 player.

“It was an incredible atmosphere. Playing against him here is of course nice,” said Hanfmann on Sky: “I played very, very well – I played great stops and got him off balance. I can only do it now win.”

Compatriot Daniel Altmaier missed the next surprise in the Italian capital shortly afterwards. In his duel with number twelve US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe (USA), the 24-year-old lost 6: 3, 5: 7, 3: 6. The man from Kempen had played well on the rainy Saturday and on the following day with a score of 6:3, 3:4 he had a good chance of continuing against the favored American. After a tight second round, Tiafoe then retained the upper hand in the decisive third set.

In addition to Hanfmann, the 22-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic is in the third round. The Serb, who will have to hand over his status as world number one to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz after the tournament, won 6: 3, 4: 6, 6: 1 against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and will now face either Cameron Norrie (Great Britain/No 13) or the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. Djokovic has triumphed six times in the Foro Italico, most recently last year.