Gojowczyk at 32 in the first Grand Slam round of 16

New York. The Munich tennis pro Peter Gojowczyk won the duel of qualifiers at the US Open in New York and reached the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. The 32-year-old from Munich won against Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1, 6: 4 on Friday.

Victory for Peter Gojowczyk in the duel of qualifiers

Both opponents had secured a place in the main field through qualification. After 2:07 hours, Gojowczyk, number 141 in the world rankings, turned his first match point against Laaksonen, who was in 130th position. In the fight for a place in the quarter-finals, Gojowczyk will now face third-placed Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas or Carlos Alcaraz from Spain.

In the previous round, the former Davis Cup player, who had fallen back in the world rankings after numerous injuries, defeated the favored Serb Dusan Lajovic in five sets. He had already surprised with his first round win against number 23 French Ugo Humbert, also in five rounds.

Trouble with the referee

“I’ve never lost my faith. I always have the feeling, when my body is fit, that I belong here too,” Gojowczyk said after this success. He had traveled to New York without a coach, and in the first round he was extremely annoyed that the referee had mispronounced his name several times.

Gojowczyk gave up the first set after 32 minutes against Laaksonen, but then came better and better into the game. In the Grandstand, the third largest stadium on the facility in Flushing Meadows, the Munich player started his service game with a double fault in the fourth set with a 5: 4 lead. But then he fended off two breakballs and continued to play courageously and with strong nerves. After a little over two hours, he was able to celebrate his greatest success alongside the 2017 ATP title in Metz and the successful Davis Cup appearance in France in 2014. (dpa)