Tennis professional Daniel Altmaier missed the next surprise at the US Open.
Against the world ranking, the 26-year-old from Kempen showed a strong combative performance again in round three, but had to pay tribute to the high stress of his first week in New York and finally gave up at 7: 6 (9: 7), 3: 6, 4: 6, 0: 2.
German number two had had to go over five sets both in the first round against the Serbs Hamad Medjedovic and in round two against the former Grand Slam finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and stood on the pitch for over nine hours. Very different de Minaur, which was stormed in round three without loss of sets and in just under four hours.
At the beginning, Altmaier, who clearly lost the last direct duel in February in Rotterdam with 1: 6, 4: 6, kept very well. In the tiebreak it was already 0: 3 behind, but still fought for sentence one. After that, the favorite Australian took over the game control, and looked much fresher, especially on the network.
Treatment break in the catacombs
In the middle of the third sentence, Altmaier had to be treated in the catacombs by a physio – and then played significantly more risky with a bandage on the left thigh in order to avoid long rallies.
Again and again he kept his right shoulder, bit on his teeth – but went online after exactly three hours and gave up.
Altmaier missed a huge opportunity. In the round of 16 in qualifying Leandro Riedi, the surprise of the tournament would have been waiting for him, de Minaur is the clear favorite against the Swiss who had traveled as number 435 (!).
Altmaier’s best Grand Slam result, on the other hand, remains the round of 16 at the French Open (2020, 2025) twice.