Before the start of this edition of the ATP500 in Halle, there were some injury concerns about Sascha Zverev that was struggling with his left leg.

Seeded no.2, the German decided to compete even if he wasn’t at his very best and he was (sort of) punished by a coriaceous Borna Coric in the 1^st round.

The match between the Croatian and the German never took off with Coric grabbing an extremely fast 6-1 5-1 lead. Eventually, Zverev won the following 3 games (5-4) to give some hope to the local crowd, but Borna didn’t allow Sascha to complete his comeback to win the match 6-1 6-4.

Coric will face either Nikoloz Basilashvili or Rudolf Molleker.