Leonardo Mayer, at the time of this writing, was the 138th-ranked player in the world. He entered last week just 2-3 on the ATP Tour and, last weekend, he fell in the final round of qualifying at ATP Hamburg 2017. However, with two last-minute pullouts ahead of the start of main-draw play Mayer found himself a so-called "lucky loser," a loser from qualifying that ends up in the main draw due to withdrawals. The Argentine then blasted his way through five rounds of play in the Hamburg draw, including the tournament's top seed. On Monday, Mayer should find himself close to the top 50 on tour, up some 90 positions.
Mayer had won Hamburg before
Mayer only has two titles in his career, but both of them have come in Hamburg. Back in 2014, he defeated David Ferrer in the final to claim the 500-series title. This season Mayer defeated German-player Florian Mayer in a three-set battle 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Mayer also defeated Federico Delbonis, Jiri Vesely, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The latter player was the tournament's top seed and Mayer truly escaped by the skin of his teeth in the match winning a third-set tiebreaker.
The 500 ranking points that resulted from Mayer's tournament victory will help ensure that he doesn't have to bother with qualifying draws as soon as the ranking comes into effect for tournament entries.
Unfortunately, the big hard court events upcoming will use previous rankings to determine their players' lists. However, Mayer should be the main draw of some of the late-season bigger events on tour. For a player that seemed to be fading, his career has certainly taken a major step in the right direction.
"It's amazing to win in Hamburg again," said Mayer.
"It's like home here and I feel very comfortable. I like the city and I always play well here" (qtd. by the ATP).
Hamburg tournament recap
Florian Mayer's result in Hamburg should not be overlooked either. The former top-20 player was in the hunt for his third career title. With a ranking outside of the top 100 entering last week, he too earned valuable ranking points.
The 300 he will get for his runner-up finish will send him surging upward about 40 spots on Monday. Fellow-German Philipp Kohlschreiber also had a good tournament as he made the semifinals. A player that underachieved, beside the top-seeded Ramos-Vinolas, was Pablo Cuevas. Usually Uruguay's top player is a spot-on hit to do well on clay, however, he has not had a good result since Madrid now. Besides losing in Hamburg's first round, Cuevas also went out in the first round of ATP Bastad last week. Cuevas will try and turn things around in the days ahead as he is the top seed in the Kitzbuhel draw.
