Professional tennis tournament series - Last year's runner-up Struff advances to the Round of 16 in Stuttgart.
Previous year's runner-up, Jan-Lennard Struff, has kicked off his lawn tennis season in Stuttgart on a high note. The 34-year-old tennis star from Sauerland region emerged victorious against the Italian underdog, Flavio Cobolli, with a score of 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. With this win, Struff, who ranks 35th globally, takes his place as the third German player after Yannick Hanfmann and Dominik Koepfer in the quarterfinals.
During the match, Struff unintentionally hit a ball girl with his serve while the score was tied at 5-5. He promptly apologized, but the ball girl had to be temporarily replaced.
The tiebreak saw Struff making two double faults, one of which was at match point, but ultimately emerged on top. In the second set, he earned an early break to lead 2-0, which facilitated his advancement. His opponent for the next round is the Frenchman, Arthur Rinderknech.
The players from the Black Forest, Dominik Koepfer (facing off against Italian Lorenzo Musetti), and Karlsruhe, Yannick Hanfmann (playing against American title holder Frances Tiafoe) are both competing for a spot in the semi-finals scheduled for Wednesday.
Germany's best-known tennis player, Alexander Zverev, as predicted, withdrew from his participation in Stuttgart just two days after his lost French Open final. "I've played a great deal of tennis in the past few weeks and reached the finale at the French Open, where I played five grueling sets. I feel that my body isn't yet prepared to go from clay to grass right now," explained the native of Hamburg in a statement released by the organizers.
