Nfter reaching the quarter-finals of the lawn tournament in Halle, Westphalia, Oscar Otte cried out his joy and relief. “It’s great that I’m through,” said the 28-year-old tennis pro from Cologne on Thursday after his 4: 6, 6: 0, 7: 6 (7: 3) in the round of 16 against Georgian Nikolos Bassilashvili. With his second match ball, Otte made progress perfect after 1:56 hours. At least one German has reached the quarter-finals of the ATP event, which is endowed with 2.275 million euros.
In the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev, hopes rest on Otte. “You can tell. You don’t want to be the last German to be eliminated here,” said the German number two. “I still can’t really believe it. I’m enjoying the victory for now.” In the fight for the semi-finals, Otte will now have to deal with Karen Chatschanow on Friday. The Russian prevailed against the Serb Laslo Djere 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 4.
Otte got off to a weak start in the OWL Arena and conceded a quick break. The player from Cologne served well afterwards, but Otte had big problems on the return game. Only when the score was 4:5 did he earn the first two breakballs, which he was unable to use. Instead, Basilashvili got the first set after 36 minutes in the second attempt.
But Otte improved now. The Davis Cup professional managed a quick break in the second half, after which he had the game under control and after 1:06 hours of play managed to equalize the set 6:0. In the third round, Otte and Bassilashvili gave nothing. When the score was 5:5, Otte had to survive a critical phase with two breakballs, but fended off both. The first with a spectacular volley while falling.
The momentum was now on Otte’s side. In the tie-break he made progress to the cheers of the spectators perfectly. “The spectators carried me today. Especially after losing the second set,” said Otte.
