Oscar Otte missed the final of the lawn tournament in Halle. After a good game on Saturday (June 18th, 2022), the Cologne native lost to world number one Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals 6:7 (3:7), 3:6.
The 28-year-old from Cologne had a 4: 6, 7: 6 (7: 5), 6: 4 in the quarterfinals against the Russian Karen Chatschanow and was thus in the semifinals of an ATP 500 tournament for the first time in his career. With the Russian Daniil Medvedev, Otte now faced the greatest possible hurdle of the current tennis elite in the semifinals. With the exception of the final at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the world number one had won the last six matches without losing a set – including the three games in Halle. Only against the Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven he surprisingly and clearly lost six days ago in the final of the Libéma Open.
Buoyed by his recent successes, the man from Cologne started the match well. Supported by the spectators, Otte continued his performance from the previous day with self-confidence and high concentration and won his first service games. He patiently played the long balls in the sweltering heat of Halle and waited for his chance. Medvedev initially had a little more problems with his own serve and had to fend off four breakballs. But that showed the quality of the Russian, not to get hectic even in tricky situations – he fended off everything.
But with the sixth attempt, Otte managed to break. With the score now 5:3, the Cologne native then had a set ball on his own serve at a score of 40:30, but Medvedev not only fended it off but even managed a break. The Russian now dealt better with Otte’s forehand slice down to the baseline, where Medvedev struggled to generate pace. As a result, both won their service games, so that the score was 6: 6 and it went into the tie-break.
Otte had won all three of his tiebreaks in Halle, but this time his opponent prevailed. With a score of 6: 3, Medvedev converted the first of three set balls to make it 1: 0. The favorite led, but nothing was lost: the game was evenly matched.
This initially continued in the second set, but when Otte lost his service game when the score was 2:3, things suddenly got dangerous for the man from Cologne. The world number one Medvedev only needed to win his next two service games to be in the final. And the Russian, who had often struggled with his game before, now showed great will and played consistently and largely flawlessly. Medvedev converted the first of three match balls – in the end Otte lost 6:7 (3:7), 3:6 after 1:37 hours despite a good performance.
Medvedev in the final against Hurkacz or Kyrgios
Consolation for Otte: In the coming week he will be at least 38th in the world rankings. and thus higher than ever. In the final, Medvedev will meet Hubert Hurkacz (No. 5) from Poland or Nick Kyrgios from Australia, who will play in the second semi-final late on Saturday afternoon.
