The German has knocked down one of the great favorites of the tournament in three sets
Karatsev will be his rival in the semifinals
Two players who played the previous phase and faced each other, the Russian Aslan Karatsev and the German Jan Lennard Struff, executioner this Thursday of the fourth seed, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipasthey will meet again in the main draw and play the semi-final of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Struff finished off Tsitsipas, the favorite to question Carlos Alcaraz’s title on Sunday if he knocks down Croatian Borna Coric on Friday. But the German, skipped the script and, protected by his precision and the solvency of the serve from him, won by 7-6(5), 5-7 and 6-3 in two and a half hours.
Without any title in his career, fished out of the previous phase, the German, 65 in the world, He will play a final again after the one he played on land in 2021.
The German who already warned of his aspirations in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 where he reached the quarterfinals for the first time in a tournament of this rank has gone further. Now in Madrid, has broken that barrier and will play the semifinals in Madrid, on land, after finishing off one of the best players in the world.
Struff, who in three previous appearances at the Masters 1000 in Madrid had only been able to reach the second round, kept his cool against Tsitsipas’ push. It was from less to more the German who resisted in a bitter first set that he brought forward thanks to the tie break
The German did not stop the Hellene’s reaction. Struff lost for the only time in the game his solvent serve, in the eleventh quarter, and Tsitsipas took the opportunity to close the set and equalize the game.
Far from declining, the German, who had lost three of the five previous clashes with the Athens tennis player although he had scored the only one played on land, in Barcelona 2019, recovered. For the first time in the match, he broke Tsitsipas’s serve, in the fourth game and he was at 3-1, which he consolidated. The Greek was able to go bankrupt in the following games but Struff held his own and wrapped up one of the most important wins of his career.
Tsitsipas, a finalist in the Caja Mágica in 2019, leaves Madrid empty and continues without winning a title so far in 2023, where he has only been able to reach the finals in Barcelona and Monte Carlo.
The Madrid Masters 1000 will contemplate a curious fact. Two players who met in the previous phase meet again in the main draw. Also, in the semifinals. Struff, known as ‘lucky loser’, aspires to achieve the second final of his career, the most important. He faces the Russian Aslan Karatsev who beat the Chinese Zhinzhen Zhang 7-6 (3) and 6-4 and with whom he lost in the previous phase.