Andrey Rublev, seeded N.2 and 7th in the world, was severely beaten in the second round of the ATP 500 tournament in Hamburg by the German Daniel Altmaier (61st in the world), expeditious winner of the Russian 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hrs 15 mins.
Altmeier ended a five-game winning streak for Rublev, who had just won the Bastad tournament on Sunday.
The Russian, who has played a lot in recent weeks, chaining final in Halle, quarter-final at Wimbledon and title at Bastad in less than a month, has not recovered from the long battle fought the day before in the first round at the Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles, whom he only beat at the end of the decisive game of the third round and at the cost of long and intense exchanges.
Altmeier took advantage of his slowdown, by multiplying the winning shots, to reach for the first time the quarters of a tournament in which he had never exceeded the first round in his four previous participations.
