Top 3 photos, July 23: Thiem, Zverev win Hamburg openers

For those not quite ready for the North American hard-court swing, Europe offers an alternative slate of clay-court events, highlighted by the ATP 500 event in Hamburg this week. These are the Top 3 photos from Tuesday in Germany.

1

Two-time reigning French Open finalist Dominic Thiem opened his campaign with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory over accomplished clay-courter Pablo Cuevas to secure his 250th match win. Thiem, the top seed, surely welcomes the extra time on red dirt after losing his lone match on grass to Sam Querrey in the first round of Wimbledon.

(Getty Images)

2

Hamburg native Alexander Zverev, who accepted a wild card and is seeded second, eased past last weekend’s Bastad champion Nicolas Jarry, 6-4, 6-2. Zverev’s lone title of the season came on red clay in Geneva, where he began a stretch of eight straight wins before going down to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.

(Getty Images)

3

Home hope Jan-Lennard Struff fired 10 aces to dismiss Thiago Montero, 6-1, 6-3. Struff enjoyed his best major run at the French Open with a round of 16 showing, where he also fell to Djokovic. The German is searching for his first ATP title.

(Getty Images)