Daniel Altmaier suffers a setback in the final stretch of the season. The German tennis pro is defeated by a qualifier from Belgium.
Professional tennis player Daniel Altmaier has somewhat surprisingly missed out on the round of 16 at the ATP tournament in Brussels. The 27-year-old from Kempen lost his opening match 4-6, 7-6 (12-10), 3-6 to Belgian Gilles Arnaud Bailly, who is ranked almost 200 places lower in the world rankings.
This is a setback for Altmaier in the final stretch of the season, with the world number 51 waiting for two consecutive wins since the US Open in August.
Altmaier saves two match points
Against Bailly, ranked 247th in the world, Altmaier saved two match points in the tiebreak of the second set and won the set with strong nerves. However, the qualifier remained the better player, and Altmaier conceded the break to 3:5 in the third set after two double faults and had to admit defeat shortly afterwards.
This means that Yannick Hanfmann is now the only German player left in the main draw of the 250 tournament in Brussels. The Karlsruhe native successfully fought his way through qualifying and will face Matteo Arnaldi from Italy in the first round.
