World No. 64 Daniel Altmaier outlasted first-round opponent Zhizhen Zhang in Rome at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday, setting up a second-round matchup with No. 3 Alexander Zverev.
The 27-year-old German rallied to win 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 against China’s Zhang, who finished with more winners (29-25) and fewer unforced errors (20-25). The two-hour, 23-minute match finally began to turn Altmaier’s way during a 7-3 tiebreak in Set 2, and he leveraged a 3-1 lead in the final set to the finish line.
“Recently it’s been quite tough,” Zhang said. “I haven’t won many matches and my confidence isn’t very high.
“If I had a bit more confidence, that service game at 5-4 in the second set could have been different.”
Altmaier holds a 1-3 record against his countryman Zverev, most recently suffering a loss in the Round of 16 at Munich in 2025. Altmaier’s lone win came in 2024 at Acapulco. Zverev is a two-time Rome champion.
Yannick Hanfmann defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 6-7 (3), 7-6 (2), 6-2 and Jan-Lennard Struff powered past Argentina qualifier Francisco Comesana 6-2, 6-4 to give Germany a clean sweep of the day’s action.
Struff advances to meet Czechia’s Jiri Lehecka (No. 13) while Hanfmann will next face No. 18 Luciana Darderi of Italy.
The Italians split their matches on their home turf, with wild card Matteo Arnaldi downing Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Fabian Marozasan losing to the Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva 6-3, 6-3.
Zachary Svajda was the lone American winner, topping Argentina’s Marco Trungelliti 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Elsewhere, Patrick Kypson fell to Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 5-7, 6-0, while Jenson Brooksby lost to Argentina’s Sebastian Baez 6-3, 7-6 (8).
Svajda’s Round of 32 opponent will be Norway’s Casper Ruud, ranked No. 23.
Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko will face No. 13 Karen Khachanov of Russia after taking care of Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (5). On the opposing side of the bracket, the Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp advanced to meet No. 22 Arthur Rinderknech of France by finishing off France’s Alexandre Muller 7-5, 6-3.
In other action, Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo handled Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-1, Portugal’s Nuno Borges controlled the Netherlands’ Jesper de Jong 6-3, 6-0 and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Damir Dzumhur cruised past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-0.
–Field Level Media
