Daniel Altmaier and Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarterfinals of Madrid | Sports

Two Germans in a Masters quarterfinals, and no one is called Alexander Zverev (26)!

That alone is already a small sensation. Daniel Altmaier (24) and Jan-Lennard Struff (33) are in the top eight in Madrid. Two Germans with one for so long ATP 1000 tournament in there, that was last in Rome in 1994. At that time, the two were called Boris Becker and Michael Stich and Helmut Kohl was still Chancellor.

Curious: Altmaier and Struff actually flew out in the qualification and only came into the main draw as so-called lucky losers. And that’s when they really turned things up. Above all Altmaier, who threw out two countrymen on the way to the quarter-finals with Oscar Otte and Yannick Hanfmann. “Incredible, actually I was already out,” he says happily.

In his four won matches so far, number 92 in the world has not yet lost a set. However, his qualifying defeat against the Austrian Jurij Rodionov was also a quick one in two sets. Late Wednesday evening (10 p.m., Sky live) it is now against the Croatian Borna Coric (26), number 20 in the world.

Struff, on the other hand, had to go over three sets in each of the last three games, which probably took a lot of strength. On Thursday he faces a damn difficult task: Stefanos Tsitsipas (24), number 5 in the world from Greece. The Warsteiner is a blatant outsider.

The appearances of Altmaier and Struff give hope for the upcoming tournaments in Rome and especially in Paris at the French Open (from May 28th). At the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, both have almost no points to defend. Altmaier was kicked out in the first round in 2022, Struff didn’t play in Paris at all.

Thus, both could climb further in the world rankings if they maintain their winning streak in Rome and Paris to some extent. That would be good for German tennis, especially after Zverev’s knockout round against superstar Carlos Alcaraz (19 / Spain) on Tuesday.

The Olympic champion flew home to Monaco on Tuesday, where he will prepare for Rome. He intends to leave there early next week. A good place for him, the Hamburger reached the semifinals there a year ago, where Tsitsipas was eliminated.