Marterer defeated the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene after 3:04 hours 4:6, 7:5, 6:4, 7:5 and was not discouraged by two longer breaks in the rain. “It feels incredible, I wouldn’t have expected that before the tournament,” said the man from Nuremberg, who fought his way through qualifying. Marterer achieved his first victory in Wimbledon in his second main round participation, he is now dealing with Frances Tiafoe from the USA.
Struff, on the other hand, narrowly failed in his first second round entry since 2019. For a long time he did not notice the fracture of his big toe, which had stopped him for more than two months this year. In view of the “brutally difficult task” he had announced before the game that he would deliver a “monster fight” – and Struff kept his word.
Especially with his up to 218 km/h fast serve and crashing forehands, he put his opponent under pressure at the beginning and kept his nerve in numerous tight moments. Struff fended off four breakballs in the first set and celebrated the set ball converted by an ace with an outstretched fist in the direction of his appendix in the stands.
Struff runs out of power in muggy conditions
The rain pounded on the closed roof, and both players were not discouraged by the sometimes humid conditions. In the second set, Alcaraz was able to take the serve from Struff for the first time and repeatedly presented him with problems as the game progressed with strong passing balls. In the end, Struff also visibly lacked the strength.
The world rankings-97. Niemeier dominated her game against Wang at the beginning and remained sovereign even with increasing resistance from her opponent in the second set. Last year she narrowly missed her first leap into the Wimbledon main draw. At the French Open in Paris, she had recently made her debut in one of the four largest tournaments, but narrowly lost there to Sloane Stephens from the USA. “It was very frustrating,” she recalled. “I’m happy that I’ve now won the main round at the second attempt.”