Jannick Sinner fought through for a debut win at the ATP Halle event on Tuesday, with the forth seed getting past Richard Gasquet 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
The German-speaking Italian needed nearly two and a half hours to dispatch Gasquet, who claimed the 600th match victory of his career last week in Stuttgart with a defeat of top seed Stefnaos Tsitsipas.
Sinner won a round last week in the Netherlands and crossed the border to Germany with less than a fortnight remaining before the July 3 start of Wimbledon.
The Italian improved his season numbers in first-round wins to a perfect 12-0 while winning his 40th match of 2023.
Gasquet put up a fight, saving 17 of 20 break points against his serve; Sinner produced 45 winners to advance into the second round against compatriot Lorenzo Sonego.
Sonego beat Aslan Karatsev, who was inserted into the draw after Nick Kyrgios withdrew with a knee injury, 6-2, 3-6, -2.
