TWO ATP 250 events took off today with the Round of 32 in both Cologne, Germany and Sardinia, Italy with some upset results. Three seeds were ousted across both tournaments, with just two getting up as it was bad news for second ranked German, Jan-Lennard Struff, whilst great news for Italian teen sensation, Lorenzo Musetti.

In Cologne, Stuff suffered his second consecutive loss across two tournaments to German qualifiers, backing up his shock defeat to compatriot Daniel Altmaier at Roland Garros with a straight sets defeat at the hands of fellow German, Oscar Otte. The 142nd ranked Otte needed just 79 minutes to defeat the seventh seed, breaking four times to two and winning 76 per cent of his first serve points to triumph 6-4 6-3. He joined another German in wildcard, Mischa Zverev in the second round after he rather easily defeated Australian John Millman in straight sets, 6-1 6-4. Currently ranked 268th, Zverev showed he has the same ability as his older brother Alexander, winning in an identical 79 minutes against the 44th ranked Australian, with six breaks to two.

The other big upset of the day was American Steve Johnson – who bounced back from one of his worst performances in recent memory at Roland Garros where he won just two games in three sets against Roberto Carballes Baena – to knock off rising Serbian, and fifth seed Filip Krajinovic in just over three hours. Johnson won 3-6 6-4 6-4 to book his spot in the next round courtesy of 10 aces and a 76 per cent success rate off his first serve points. Also through to the second round was sixth seed Hubert Hurkacz who knocked off lucky loser, Australian Marc Polmans, while Dennis Novak compounded the day to forget for Australia with a 6-3 6-3 win over Jordan Thompson, and Romania’s Radu Albot defeated Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in three sets, 6-2 4-6 6-4

COLOGNE ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Steve Johnson (USA) defeated [5] Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 3-6 6-4 6-4
Dennis Novak (AUT) defeated Jordan Thompson (AUS) 6-3 6-3
[Q] Oscar Otte (GER) defeated [7] Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 6-4 6-3
Radu Albot (ROU) defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) 6-2 4-6 6-4
[6] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) defeated [LL] Marc Polmans (AUS) 6-2 7-5
[WC] Mischa Zverev (GER) defeated John Millman (AUS) 6-1 6-4

There were only the four matches played in Sardinia, with Musetti once again taking the headlines thanks to the 18-year-old knocking off eighth seed Pablo Cuevas. Musetti clocked up his seventh top 100 win in a month as he continues to rise up the ATP Tour rankings, defeating the Argentinian on his preferred clay surface to win 7-6 7-5. He won 63 and 58 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively in the match, battling hard against the determined veteran to hold his own and eventually earn a spot in the next round.

“Pablo is a clay player and a really tough player with a lot of experience,” Musetti said post-match. “I knew from the beginning it would be really tough tennis.”

Now Musetti will take on fellow Italian, Andrea Pellegrino who knocked off another home nation representative in Stefano Travaglia. The latter was forced to retire due to a headache, with Pellegrino getting up 4-6 7-6 3-0. Meanwhile in other results, seventh seed Tommy Paul put a first set loss behind him to knock over Slovakian lucky loser Andrej Martin, 5-7 6-3 7-5. In the other match, Czech Jiri Vesely held off a determined Kamil Majchrzak who made things interesting in the second set, before Vesely steadied at the end to win, 6-1 7-5.

SARDINIA ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[7] Tommy Paul (USA) defeated [LL] Andrej Martin (SVK) 5-7 6-3 7-5
[WC] Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) defeated [8] Pablo Cuevas (ARG) 7-6 7-5
[Q] Andrea Pellegrino (ITA) defeated Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 4-6 7-6 3-0 RET
Jiri Vesely (CZE) ddefeated Kamil Majchrzak (POL) 6-1 7-5

Picture: Getty Images