The top four seeds — Dominic Thiem, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Haase — at the Generali Open all made second-round exits on Wednesday.

Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan recorded the fourth Top 10 victory of his 12-season pro career (4-18 lifetime). Klizan beat 2014 finalist Thiem, currently No. 8 in the ATP Rankings, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5, breaking in the final game of their two-hour Kitzbühel encounter. Klizan is now 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“The first set was really bad, but then I played better,” said Thiem. “Sets two and three were okay, [but] it’s very bitter for me. The atmosphere was great in the stadium today, there were some good rallies. It could have been a great start into the tournament, but losing it in the end is very disappointing.”

Klizan will next challenge eighth-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic, who lost just four of his first-service points to beat wild card Dennis Novak of Austria 6-2, 6-4 in 68 minutes. Lajovic reached the Kitzbühel semi-finals in 2016 (l. to Basilashvili).

Earlier in the day, Uzbekistani qualifier Denis Istomin got the better of second seed Kohlschreiber for the second time this year (also MercedesCup) with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 win in two hours and nine minutes. Istomin, who let slip a 5-3 lead in the first set, will now face another German, sixth seed Maximilian Marterer, who lost seven of his first-service points to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 in 74 minutes.

Chile’s Nicolas Jarry reached his sixth ATP World Tour quarter-final (or better) this year by overcoming third-seeded Spaniard Verdasco 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes. Jarry led 6/3 in the first-set tie-break, but regrouped for his 21st win of the year. He will now play Italian Matteo Berrettini, last week’s J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad titlist, who beat Radu Albot of Moldova 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1 in just under two hours.

Spaniard Jaume Munar knocked out fourth-seeded Dutchman Haase, the 2011 and 2012 champion, 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 36 minutes. He’ll next play Japan’s Taro Daniel, this year’s TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open (l. to Jaziri) finalist, who beat Laslo Djere or Serbia 6-3, 6-2 in 76 minutes.

In-Form South Americans Begin Doubles Campaign
Top seeds Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos, going for their third ATP World Tour crown in as many weeks, got their Kitzbühel campaigns off to a winning start with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Kevin Krawietz and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo. Over the past two weeks they have captured trophies at the SkiStar Swedish Open (d. Bolelli-Fognini) and the German Tennis Championships 2018 presented by Kampmann (d. Marach-Pavic).

Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak were joined by stars of West Ham United Football Club on Wednesday morning at the Generali Open.

Spanish goalkeeper Adrian, English winger Michail Antonio joined their Austrian teammate and forward Marko Arnautovic on court for some football and tennis as Thiem and Novak warmed up for their Kitzbühel second-round matches.

West Ham United are in the Alpine town for a five-day training camp at the Sportplatz Kitzbühel-Langau.

“I’m a huge football fan and it was great to finally meet Marko,” said Thiem. “I would love to go and train with the team! It was really nice to play together. I hope you guys had a really good preparation in Austria and you have a great start the season. For us, it’s a big honour to play football with these big stars.”

Arnautovic admitted, “Dominic has done a great job and he is still young. He’s done a lot of good things and is now in the top ten in the world. He’s a very good player but he’s still got a long way to go because he’s young and I think, if he keeps working hard, hopefully he’s going to be the top one.

“It’s not normal that we can do this because Dominic has a game tonight and he’s come out with his partner to play football and enjoy some time. Now it’s time for him to go back, concentrate, take a rest and beat this guy up!”

Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Citi Open on Wednesday due to a hip injury ahead of his second-round meeting against fellow Australian James Duckworth.

“It’s the same left hip injury I got after a sudden movement in Atlanta last week and I haven’t had enough time to be ready to play this week,” Kyrgios said. “The physio recommended a couple of days of rest, rehab and treatment. I’ve got ample time for it to settle down before [the Rogers Cup in] Toronto.

“It’s disappointing. I’m sure I’ll be here again with another chance to play, but at this stage I can’t risk aggravating the injury with [ATP World Tour] Masters 1000s and the US Open coming up. Last year I wasn’t healthy at the US Open, so I want to be right for that.”

Kyrgios, who has a 19-8 record on the season, highlighted by a fourth ATP World Tour title at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp (d. Harrison) in January, has been replaced by Australian lucky loser Jason Kubler in the Washington, D.C. draw.

The champ is back, and he’s looking as good as ever. Top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev took a 6-2 lead against Malek Jaziri of Tunisia at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., before rain suspended their match for the second time early Wednesday morning.

Zverev had just wrapped up the first set when rain fell again, around 1:10 a.m. local time. Their first-round match was first postponed with Zverev leading 3-0, and they didn’t resume until 12:50 a.m.

The 21-year-old Zverev lost only one first-serve point in the opener (10/11). He’s looking for his first hard-court title of the season after winning on clay at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich (d. Kohlschreiber) and the Mutua Madrid Open, his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (d. Thiem).

Stan Wawrinka, competing in his first outdoors hard-court match since January, showed signs of his old self but fell just short against American qualifier Donald Young 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3). Young led 5/3 in the second-set tie-break but Wawrinka came back to even the match. In the third, however, the 29-year-old Chicago native clinched his first match point. Young will next meet seventh seed Kei Nishikori of Japan.

“It was tough. I fought a lot of nerves there, but I’m happy the result was a ‘W’ at the end of the day. It’s tough playing Stan,” said Young, who won just his third tour-level match of the year. “I haven’t had a bunch of confidence this year. Closing matches is kind of a skill you get from winning, and I haven’t done that, but I was able to do that and quallies definitely helped.”

Australia’s #NextGenATP star Alex de Minaur came back to beat Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3. De Minaur will next play 11^th seed Steve Johnson of the U.S.

Hometown favourite Denis Kudla earned a special victory against Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4 in one hour, 57 minutes. Kudla is from nearby Arlington, Virginia, and he celebrated his first win during his fifth try at his hometown tournament. He will next meet 12^th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia.

American Jared Donaldson, who competed at the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, beat Aussie Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-6(4). Donaldson struggled on serve, donating 11 double faults and landing less than half of his first serves (42/90), but he persevered in one hour, 47 minutes and will next meet Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Did You Know?
Zverev and his older brother Mischa Zverev have never played against each other in a tour-level match. But it could happen this week in Washington.

Fifth seed and defending champion Sam Querrey sped through his opener at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, needing only 49 minutes to beat Mexican wild card Lucas Gomez 6-2, 6-3.

“I feel like I played well. It’s good to get the first match out of my way, and hopefully just keep playing better and better,” Querrey said.

He dropped only eight points on serve (36/44), including only two on his first offering (23/25). The American will next meet Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who beat Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 6-3.

Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez squeezed past Egyptian Mohamed Safwat 7-6(3), 6-4 to set a second-round showdown with Brit Cameron Norrie, who swept Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2. Norrie made his second ATP World Tour semi-final last week at the BB&T Atlanta Open (l. to Harrison).

Did You Know?
Last year, Querrey won both ATP World Tour tournaments in Mexico by winning in Acapulco and Los Cabos. Top seed Juan Martin del Potro is attempting to also complete the Mexican double this week.