Jan-Lennard Struff narrowly missed making it into the round of 16 at the lawn tournament in Halle. The 32-year-old tennis pro from Warstein lost 6:3, 3:6, 6:7 (5:7) after a big fight against Ilja Ivashka from Belarus.
Struff, who only celebrated his comeback after breaking a toe at the tournament in Stuttgart last week, had to admit defeat in the OWL Arena after 2:03 hours.
The German champion Henri Squire had previously failed. The 21-year-old had to give up against the Serbian Laslo Djere at a score of 3: 4 due to an injury. Both Struff and Squire were only in the main draw of the ATP event, which was endowed with 2.275 million euros, thanks to a wildcard.
Otte and Altmaier in action on Tuesday
Oscar Otte and Daniel Altmaier still have the chance to make it into the round of 16 on Tuesday. Otte, meanwhile German number two, meets the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, Altmaier has to deal with the Australian Nick Kyrgios beforehand. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev had to cancel his participation because of the serious foot injury he suffered at the French Open.
Struff initially had everything under control on Center Court. The Davis Cup pro served well and took the first set after just 29 minutes. Struff remained the better player in the second round, but the game suddenly tipped over in the middle of the sentence. Iwashka got stronger, Struff eased off a bit and made a few minor mistakes. This is how Ivashka managed to equalize the sentences. The decision finally had to be made in the tie-break of the third set, where Struff made one mistake too many.
The Danish shooting star Holger Rune was also eliminated. The 19-year-old lost to the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta 3: 6, 6: 7 (5: 7). At the French Open in Paris, Rune caused a sensation by reaching the quarterfinals. There he had to admit defeat to eventual finalist Casper Ruud from Norway. Surprisingly, Andrei Rublev is no longer there. The Russian, who was in the final last year, lost to the Georgian Nikolos Bassilashvili 6:7 (1:7), 4:6.