Carlos Alcaraz suffers in his debut against Kuhn, but qualifies for the second round at the ATP 500 in Hamburg

In his comeback after losing to

in the round of 16 at Wimbledon,

struggled to beat

in the first round of the Hamburg ATP 500.

He needed to reach the third set tiebreaker, with his opponent physically injured, to win 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3), in two hours and 26 minutes.

Seeded No. 1 for the first time in an ATP tournament, the Spaniard converted his third match point, first on serve, and closed with a forehand winner.

As happened to him after winning the first of his two Masters 1000 in Miami last spring, Alcaraz had a hard time adapting to the change of surface.

He then jumped from the hard court to the clay of Monte Carlo, with the toll of an unexpected debut loss to

.

This time he was better than a bottomless and erratic Kuhn in the

, where he made numerous unforced errors.

At the Ferrero academy

With a German father and a Russian mother, Kuhn, who lives in Torrevieja, decided to play again last year for Germany, after adopting Spanish nationality in 2016. At 22, and after working at the

academy , he continues without giving the growth spurt suggested by his first steps in lower categories.

A good connoisseur of Alcaraz's game, he posed, however, more problems than expected.

The Spaniard, winner this season in Miami, Madrid and Barcelona, ​​and a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, will face the winner of the match between

and

in the second round .

After Hamburg he will play the Masters 1000 in Canada and Cincinnati before joining the US Open, where last year he reached the quarterfinals after leaving

in his way, among others .

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