“A brutal struggle”
German tennis-ace makes surprise perfect at US Open
28.08.2025 – 07:39 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Jan-Lennard Struff was actually considered a clear outsider in the 2nd round of the US Open. But the German surprised in the duel against the Danish top player Rune.
Jan-Lennard Struff has a surprise at the US Open. The German hit the favorite Danes Holger Rune. Struff prevailed in an intensive duel over five sets and is thus in the third round of the Grand Slam tournament in New York.
The 35-year-old won 7: 6 (7: 5), 2: 6, 6: 3, 4: 6, 7: 5 after 3:25 hours. Especially in the crucial sentence, he showed all his skills, increased significantly again and took the crucial step towards victory with a break to 6: 5. Then he confidently brought his surcharge.
“It was a brutal struggle. The atmosphere was crazy. It was incredible,” said Struff after the match on Court 17. When it comes to the note that at the age of 35, he was the oldest German tennis professional who was able to beat a top 20 player with a Grand Slam, Struff reacted with a wink: “So you want to tell me that I am happy to play such tennis.”
In the fourth set, Struff already had a preliminary decision on the racket: After a 2-1 set lead, he was also in front with a break, but then subsided and collected the sentence compensation. But the experienced professional was not put off and fought back in the last round with offensive tennis.
The way into the main field was anything but a matter of course: Struff only made it into the tournament through the qualification. In the second round of the qualification, he was about to get out, but then benefited from a weather -related demolition. The next day he was able to turn the encounter – and suddenly fight for the round of 16.