After waiting an extra day to get on court at the BMW Open, Alexander Zverev’s tournament was ended in straight sets by Christopher O’Connell on Thursday while top-seeded Holger Rune attained his opening match.
Zverev had a first-round bye, and his second-round match with O’Connell was delayed a day after rain washed out most of the Wednesday calendar.
Playing 82nd-ranked O’Connell in cold conditions in front of a German crowd huddled in thick coats, Zverev never built much momentum and struggled to land his first serves as he was defeated 7-6 (2), 6-4.
“It’s definitely tough playing Zverev here in front of the home crowd,” O’Connell, a 28-year-old Australian, said in his on-court interview. “This is the coldest weather I’ve ever played in. It’s tough, took me a while to get warmed up.”
O’Connell will play qualifier Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals.
Rune secured a spot in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Yannick Hanfmann and next plays Chilean clay-court specialist Cristian Garin. Rune is aiming to follow up his strong start to the clay season after he was runner-up to Andrey Rublev in Monaco last week. Garin defeated sixth-seeded Lorenzo Sonego 6-3, 7-6 (3).
Also advancing were second-seeded Taylor Fritz, who defeated Marton Fucsovics 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, and fourth-seeded Botic van de Zandschulp, who defeated Aslan Karatsev 6-2, 6-0.
Dominic Thiem’s match with Marc-Andrea Huesler was suspended because of darkness with Huesler leading 7-5, 3-3. The winner faces Fritz in the quarterfinals.
