At the ATP tournament in Halle (Westphalia), tennis pro Oscar Otte took the next hurdle. The man from Cologne is the last German in the field and is now in the quarter-finals.
On Thursday afternoon (06/16/2022) Otte improved after a weaker first set and defeated Basilashvili 4: 6, 6: 0, 7: 6 (7: 2). In the round of the last eight, Otte meets the Russian Karen Chatschanow.
Otte hits hard, but has return problems
In what felt like a record time of 36 minutes, Basilashvili and Otte played the first set. In these, the opponents squeezed a total of ten games, which was also due to the spectacular service game of both tennis professionals.
However, Basilashvili acted a bit more grippy overall and made the break early on. Otte acted very focused and precise in the service, but failed a few times due to bad returns when the Georgian got rolling. Before the set ball for Basilashvili, Otte roared out his frustration, but it didn’t help. The next weak return sealed the first set win for Otte’s opponent.
Second sentence dominated by Otte
But in the next set, the 28-year-old got the return game under control. He pulled away to 3-0, putting Basilashvili on the defensive.
The number 51 in the world impressed the Georgian with his dominant game after losing the set, but he didn’t give up. And Otte demanded a show of strength in a long rally in game three before the man from Cologne got the upper hand and confirmed the break.
Otte’s service remained strong and thanks to the aces six to nine for the second set, the German scored a flawless 6-0. Basilashvili was quite amazed by this rebuff after the first set, which went better for the 30-year-old.
Basilashvili fights back in the third set
In the third set, Basilashvili fought back and equalized to make it 1-1 after Otte had won the seventh game in a row across sets.
In terms of performance, there was again a more balanced picture with slight advantages for ace specialist Otte, whose serves were still extremely precise and who were frenetically celebrated by the audience.
Strong tennis on both sides towards the end
The match reached a high level on both sides, and Basilashvili defended himself as best he could. Nevertheless, the Otte aces remained in a class of their own – the Cologne player hit two of them in a row to make it 3:2.
But Basilashvili immediately equalized with a strong rally. Because both players held their service games later in the set, the tie-break had to make the decision. With a strong forehand return, Otte got the first mini-break and took a 2-0 lead. Because Basilashvili then missed a huge chance, the Cologne native was able to extend his lead to 4:1 – the decision. Otte finally converted his second match point and is in the quarterfinals.
Otte among the top 50 for the first time
“I would have preferred to tear out a piece of grass or throw my bat somewhere,” Otte told WDR after the match. In the world rankings, the man from Cologne climbs to 41st place and is among the top 50 for the first time. “If someone had told me that two years ago, I would have given the fuck up.”
World number one Daniil Medvedev also made it into the quarterfinals. The Russian won against Ilja Ivashka from Belarus 7:6 (7:4), 6:3, but had to fight hard, especially in the first set. Iwashka, who had defeated Jan-Lennard Struff at the start, missed three set points before Medvedev got the match under control. After 1:36 hours, the number one in the world used the third match point.
