At the largest German ATP tournament in Halle in Westphalia, local hero Jan-Lennard Struff missed the round of 16 in a tennis thriller. Last year’s finalist Andrei Rublev also failed.
The Warsteiner Struff lost the Belarusian Ilya Ivaschka 6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 7 (5: 7) on Monday and thus missed the round of 16 of the ATP tournament. How good the German, who was last injured for three months, can be shown in the first sentence: Struff didn’t let his opponent get a chance at all – on his own serve he acted confidently and returned his opponent for an uncomfortably long time.
The spectators got a completely different picture from the middle of the second set. Because suddenly Struff lost his security during service, the Belarusian noticed this and now played a class better. Struff lost the sentence significantly and the third section had to make the decision.
A true tennis crime thriller developed in the deciding sentence: the game swayed back and forth. Both players alternately played world-class balls and then made hair-raising mistakes again. In the end, the tie-break had to make the decision. Ivaschka had the first two match balls – and used the second to win because Struff hit the return into the net.
Thanks to a wildcard, the 32-year-old was allowed to start at the tournament in Halle and used the event to prepare for the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon.
Last year’s finalist Rublev already out
The Russian Andrei Rublew would also like to show off there. However, the world number eight botched his dress rehearsal on the grass in Westphalia and lost to Georgian Nikolos Basilashvili 6:7 (1:7), 4:6. Last year, Rublev, who was seeded three, was still in the final of the tennis tournament.
Also eliminated was the climber from the previous tennis year, Holger Rune. The Norwegian was beaten by the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 3: 6, 6: 7 (5: 7). The German champion, Henri Squire, suffered a bitter end. He had to give up his game against Laslo Djere when the score was 3:4 due to an injury.
Otte and Altmaier on Tuesday
Daniel Altmaier from Kempen.
Mackenzie McDonald (7:6, 6:4 against Marc-Andrea Huesler) and last year’s winner Ugo Humbert (6:7, 7:6, 7:5 against Radu Albot) were able to win the other two games. On Tuesday, two more Germans will start the tournament with Daniel Altmaier and Oscar Otte.
