German number two Jan-Lennard Struff became the second German tennis professional to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP tournament.
The Warsteiner, seeded fourth and therefore given a bye in the opening round, beat the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp 7:6 (7:0), 6:4.
Yannick Hanfmann from Karlsruhe had previously failed in his round of 16 against Marc-Andrea Hüsler from Switzerland 2:6, 4:6 – both matches were temporarily interrupted due to rain.
“I’m extremely happy, I didn’t know if we could play,” said Struff. Due to the bad weather, it was initially unclear whether the match could continue or have to be postponed to Friday. Struff was “happy that I crossed the finish line today.”
Hanfmann is losing ground after a strong start
Struff and his opponent played a balanced first set, in which both players played their serves. The German dominated in the tiebreak and secured the lead in the set without giving up a point. He then made things seemingly clear early on with the first break of the game, but allowed the Dutchman back into the match through careless mistakes before he hit back decisively. In the quarter-finals, Struff will face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday.
Hanfmann initially started his game optimally and immediately took a service game from his opponent, but then he immediately gave the break back. After the forced break, the German only kept up for a short time, conceded another break when the score was 2:3 and finally gave up the first round clearly.
The world number 61 kept the second round open, created break chances for himself, but left them unused and ultimately made a decisive mistake at 4:5 in the second set. Hüsler now faces a duel in the quarter-finals with top Danish player Holger Rune, who is in second place.
The German number one Alexander Zverev had already qualified for the round of the top eight at the tournament in Munich, which was marked by rain interruptions. The Olympic champion will meet Cristian Garin from Chile on Friday.
2024-04-18 18:06:00
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