German teen Engel makes history at Almaty Open

Ravi Ubha

Wearing a sleeveless shirt like his idol Rafael Nadal, Justin Engel emulated the Spanish legend by winning his ATP debut match as a teenaged wildcard. 

Whereas Nadal was 15 when he triumphed at home in Mallorca in 2002, Engel beat Coleman Wong 7-5 6-4 at the Almaty Open on Monday two weeks after turning 17. 

«This feeling is incredible,» said Engel. 

The German became tied to another Spanish Grand Slam champion by virtue of the victory — the youngest player to win an ATP match since a 16-year-old Carlos Alcaraz in Rio in 2020. 

«Really?» he said when relayed the news. «I didn’t know that. That’s crazy. I’m going to tell that to my father. It’s unbelievable. Wow.»

Engel earned a wildcard after bagging his first four professional titles, all at lower levels. 

He was the lone wildcard recipient not stemming from host nation Kazakhstan. 

«We got the message that I got the wildcard. I looked at my father and my father looked at me, and we were just like, ‘Is this real now?’» said Engel. «So it was a little bit of shock but at the same time I was really excited to play and very happy I got this news.»

Engel entered Almaty at a career high 458 and that is set to be eclipsed given his victory against fellow Next Genner Wong. 

He reached a high of 56 in the junior rankings, only competing in one junior Grand Slam tournament. Along with dad Horst, the pair decided to contest pro tournaments early. 

Engel collected his maiden Challenger match win against former world No. 36 Pierre Hugues-Herbert in July and reached his first Challenger quarterfinal in Villena — where Alcaraz honed his skills — earlier this month. 

According to Engel, dad Horst played regularly until he was 17 before focusing on his education. After establishing his business, Horst returned to the tennis world in earnest by guiding women’s pro Anca Barna inside the Top 50. 

«So that’s why I’m playing tennis now because my father thought, ‘Come on, now I have a kid, let’s try this again,’» said Engel. 

He started playing at the age of three yet admitted to not always liking tennis. He persisted and now dreams of becoming the world No. 1. 

Engel saved nine of 10 break points against the 20-year-old Wong, who himself won his first ATP match just last month in Hangzhou. 

He often showed ferocious baseline hitting although it turns out that Engel also packs a punch elsewhere. 

«I also did kick boxing, was very good at it,» said Engel. «I almost did it professionally but it was too dangerous for my tennis and so I stopped it.»

He will attempt to KO fourth-seed Francisco Cerundolo in the second round. 

Another German winner 

Maximilian Marterer, who Engel has trained with, became the second German winner Monday after he defeated Damir Dzumhur 7-5 6-4. 

Marterer overturned a 3-1 deficit in the first and claimed 80% of his first-serve points to draw level in his head-to-head series against Dzumhur (3-3). 

If he upsets second-seed Alejandro Tabilo in the next round, Marterer makes a first ATP quarterfinal since this week last year in Antwerp. 

In the last match Monday, former No. 12 Borna Coric beat seventh seed Fabian Marozsan 6-4 7-6 (4) for a first ATP win since August. 

Meanwhile, home favourite Mikhail Kukushkin, Dan Evans, Aslan Karatsev and Benjamin Hassan advanced to the main draw from qualifying. 

Kukushkin eased past Chengdu semifinalist Alibek Kachmazov 6-1 6-2, while Evans upset top seed BuYunchaokete 6-2 3-6 7-5.