Diego Dedura-Palomero fails to pass Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

Diego Dedura-Palomero made his ATP debut at the ATP 500 event in Munich. The young German defeated Denis Shapovalov in the first round following the Canadian’s retirement. He became the first player born in 2008 with an ATP win. 

Diego faced the Belgian Zizou Bergs in the second round and suffered a heavy 6-1, 6-1 defeat in an hour and nine minutes. Thus, Dedura-Palomero missed a chance to notch his first ATP quarter-final at a younger age than Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer!

The two legends achieved that at 17 years and one month, and the German could have passed them by a couple of days. However, he stood no chance against an in-form Belgian who collected his 17th victory of the season.

Zizou zooms through ⏩

Bergs gets the better of Dedura- Palomero 6-1 6-1 to reach his second clay court Quarter-Final 🙌#BMWOpen pic.twitter.com/8tOo7onBoR

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 17, 2025

Bergs claimed 25 points more than the young gun. He saved both break points and kept the pressure on the other side. Diego stood miles away from that pace. A teenager dropped 56% of the points in his games and suffered five breaks from eight chances offered to his rival.

The Belgian landed 24 winners and 26 unforced errors, taming his strokes nicely and reducing his rival to four winners. Dedura-Palomero sprayed 22 unforced errors and trailed in service winners and from the baseline. 

The young gun made a promising start and held at love in the first game of the encounter. Zizou made a push on the return in the third game and landed a volley winner at the net for an early break. The Belgian cemented it with a forced error in the fourth game.

He landed a forehand down the line winner in the next one for another break and a 4-1 advantage. Zizou held after deuces in the sixth game and provided his third straight break at 5-1 to wrap up the opener in 28 minutes. 

Bergs…