Top seeds Zverev, Tsitsipas make exits

Top-seeded German world No.5 Alexander Zverev has been sent crashing out of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, losing 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3 to compatriot Dustin Brown.

At the same time, Greek world No.6 Stefanos Tsitsipas’ Wimbledon preparations have suffered a big blow after he crashed to a 6-4 3-6 6-4 defeat against Chilean Nicolas Jarry in the second round of the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Zverev struggled with the world No.170’s chip and charge game in his first grass-court tournament of the season ahead of Wimbledon.

STUTTGART SCENES.@DreddyTennis upsets No.1 seed Zverev 6-4 5-7 6-3 at the #MercedesCup! pic.twitter.com/rDJ5b6v3V5

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 13, 2019

French Open quarterfinalist Zverev saved four set points on his serve at 5-3 in the first but could do nothing to stop the 34-year-old Brown from serving out the first set a game later.

Zverev, who has never won a title on grass, improved in the second and quickly broke in the second game to race 5-2 clear.

Yet Brown continued to mix it up and broke back to level at 6-6 before his opponent, who served 14 double faults, clinched the set in the tiebreak.

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Brown saved three break points at 3-3 in the third and never looked back, racing to finish it on his first match point.

“It’s a big win,” said Brown. “The last few years have been a bit up and down with injuries. So I am very happy and especially that it happened in three sets which was mentally very challenging.

“I stayed cool, tried to play deep and am happy to have won it.”

He will now play Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last eight after the seventh seed beat France’s Gilles Simon in straight sets.

Italian Matteo Berrettini earlier caused the first major upset of the tournament, beating second seed and French Open quarterfinalist Russian Karen Kachanov 6-4 6-2 in just over an hour.

He will next face American Denis Kudla, who earned the biggest win of his career with a 7-5 6-7(3) 7-6(3) victory over world No.16 Gael Monfils.

Tsitispas ousted

Top seed Tsitsipas, who received a bye in the opening round, landed just 59 per cent of his first serves and was broken twice in a sluggish display to hand the 60th-ranked Jarry victory in two hours.

Tsitsipas was playing his first match since losing to Stan Wawrinka in the last last-16 of the French Open.

Joy for Jarry! ????????????@NicoJarry defeats top seed Tsitsipas in three sets at the #LibemaOpen. pic.twitter.com/kedJiEwbSj

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 13, 2019

“It’s a very, very good win. I’m very happy for the way that I played Stefanos, one of the best players right now. He’s so young and he’s doing great this year,” Jarry told atptour.com.

The 20-year-old Tsitsipas will look to improve on last year’s fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon when he returns to the All England Club next month.

Jarry will meet either Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin or France’s Richard Gasquet in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Other second-round winners included third seed David Goffin and No.7 seed Christian Garin.