With the half-empty drinking bottle in his right hand, Oscar Otte waved to the audience and once again received great applause from the audience.
Despite another strong performance at the lawn tournament in Halle, Westphalia, the Davis Cup pro missed the next surprise against Daniil Medvedev and missed a great opportunity, especially in the first set. After 1:37 hours, Otte had to admit defeat to the world number one from Russia in the semifinals with 6:7 (3:7), 3:6.
“Has done mega buck again”
“It was a good match. I had my chances, I didn’t take them. If you play against Eins, you have to use them,” said Otte on ZDF. “It was great again on center court. But of course it’s always disappointing when you lose – no matter against whom.”
A good week before the start of the grass classic in Wimbledon, Otte wasn’t enough for the first ATP final of his tennis career. In Medvedev’s first two service games, who had not yet given up his service in the entire tournament, Otte was initially unable to use two breakballs. A backhand mistake by the top-seeded Russian then gave the 28-year-old from Cologne the 5:3 – but Otte made a double mistake on his own serve and set ball.
“It was a tough match, he served to win the set,” Medvedev said with appreciation. “It was so hot and I had to walk a lot. I knew he was a really good player.” The direct re-break gave Medvedev more security and took the first set with five points in a row at the end of the tie-break. In the second round, Medvedev managed the decisive break to make it 4:2. The spectators could not bring Otte back into the game, who became the crowd favorite in the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev.