Tennis pro Oscar Otte missed a sensation against world number one Daniil Medvedev despite a long and strong performance.
Spectators rose to their feet as Oscar Otte left the court in the sweltering Halle afternoon heat. The tennis pro from Cologne had risen to become the crowd favorite at the Westphalian lawn tournament with a strong performance – but the world number one Daniil Medvedev was a size too big in the semifinals. Otte lost to the top star from Russia 6:7 (3:7), 3:6 and must therefore continue to wait for his first appearance in the final.
“I had my chances, even today, but you have to use them against the number one, otherwise it won’t work,” said Otte on ZDF, the disappointment of the 28-year-old still prevailed. But: “It was super fun here in front of 11,000 fans, the tournament was another step in the right direction.”
At temperatures above 30 degrees, Medvedev converted his first match point after 1:37 hours and avoided another defeat in Halle against a German outsider. In 2021, the US Open winner lost to Jan-Lennard Struff in round one. Otte, who has never defeated a top 10 player, missed a set point in the first round when the score was 5:4. In the second set, Medvedev’s break was crucial to make it 4-2.
Consolation for Otte: In the coming week he will be at least 38th in the world rankings. and thus higher than ever. In the final, Medvedev meets Hubert Hurkacz from Poland (No. 5) or Nick Kyrgios from Australia – Kyrgios could still overtake Otte if he wins the tournament.
Otte, still number 51 in the world, did not notice the hardships of the quarterfinals against Karen Khachanov (4: 6, 7: 6, 6: 4) at first. In the first set, the match had to be interrupted for a few minutes due to technical problems after Otte’s hard serve broke the net attachment. Otte didn’t let that bother him, he took the serve from Medvedev to make it 5:3, but had to go into the tie-break.
The final victory in Halle, a traditional endurance test for the Wimbledon tournament that begins on June 27 this year, has gone to a German professional seven times since the premiere in 1993. Florian Mayer was last successful in 2016.
