At the ATP tournament in Stuttgart, Jan-Lennard Struff reached the quarterfinals. Second seed Taylor Fritz is also in the last eight.
The 33-year-old Struff beat the American Tommy Paul 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 6 (7: 5). The Davis Cup player’s next opponent is Richard Gasquet from France.
Tiebreak must decide in both sets
Struff had recently caused a sensation by reaching the final at the Masters in Madrid and after a difficult year in 2022 he had rocketed up the world rankings. He is currently in 24th place, his career high. Against Paul, who had won all four duels of both players without losing a set, he fought a duel without long rallies. His first serve came reliably and then almost always brought him the point. But Paul also served consistently and the tie break had to decide in both sets.
“I’m just happy that I was able to get my first win in the fifth comparison. That the first win in front of a German audience was all the better,” said Struff in the winner’s interview. “I’ve already played semi-finals here. Nevertheless, it’s very exciting when you play here. That’s actually a good sign because you want to play well in front of a German audience,” said Struff, who described the special pressure recently described by Alexander Zverev can understand at tournaments in Germany. “I know it well,” said the 33-year-old. “You want to play well in German tournaments. That’s probably what Sascha means. I’ve had it very often in the past that I might not have performed so well,” said Struff, among other things, with a view to his first-round defeats in the Westphalian Hall.
Next opponent Gasquet
In the quarter-finals on Friday, Struff will meet the Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who prevailed against the top seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 7: 6 (10: 8), 2: 6 and 7: 5.
Taylor Fritz lived up to his role as favorite. With the 7: 6 (7: 4), 6: 3 against Aslan Karazew from Russia, the American moved into the quarterfinals. The world number eight had a bye in the first round and will now play against the Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics on Friday to reach the semi-finals.
