Davidovich Fokina starts off with a win in Hamburg over van de Zandschulp

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina started off his Hamburg campaign with a win over Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4 6-4.

The Spaniard played in Bastad last week but did not do so well there and he looked much better today. It was a strange match from start to finish because we saw a lot of twists and turns but the Spaniard was generally the more consistent of the two. Not by much, but just enough. It started crazy, just like it went with both players losing their opening serve.

Fokina then jumped out to a 4-2 lead but Botic pulled it back to 4-4. The Spaniard then won two games in a row to close out the opening set 6-4. It was a set of mini-runs as Botic largely struggled with his serve. He's a player that is dependent on it if it's not going well he's in trouble generally. Fokina had no issues with the serve and it proved crucial.

In the 2nd set Botic served slightly better but not my much while Fokina was still solid overall. It was again an up and down affair where Botic took the early 2-0 lead but the Fokina turned it around to 3-2 with a break up. Botic pulled it back to 3-3.

After that Fokina jumped out to another lead and this time around he was able to hold it. A strange breakapalooza in this one with 10 breaks in 20 service games. Highly unusual for men's tennis but there you go, Fokina to round two.