ATP Barcelona: Rafael Nadal after winning strong Jan-Lennard Struff in the semi-finals
Jan-Lennard Struff left the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona. The German Davis Cup player lost to defending champion Rafael Nadal after a courageous performance in two short sentences.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Apr 26, 2019, 06:34 pm
Jan-Lennard Struff irritated the great clay court master - and he accepted the challenge. The German was 1-4 behind Rafael Nadal in the first set, then suddenly turned up and equalized to 4: 4. Ultimately, Struff had to take too much risk, but Nadal also had to unpack his great defensive qualities. After a playing time of 1:43 hours, the defending champions were 7: 5 and 7: 5.
Nadal faces the winner of the game between Dominic Thiem and Guido Pella in the semifinals. In the second match of the semifinals, Kei Nishikori and Daniil Medvedev will face each other on Saturday.
Struff had won three of his last four matches against top ten players: Against marin Cilic in autumn 2018, this year against Alexander Zverev in Indian Wells and against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona on Thursday. The Warsteiner in Basel had found his master only in Roger Federer.
Struff in Munich next week
In the first encounter with Nadal, Struff used the offensive as usual: with quick serves and flat balls, even in Nadal's forehand. This approach was often rewarded, but Jan-Lennard Struff made a few mistakes too many in the overall balance.
After losing the first set, Struff did not slacken, however, in the eighth game of round two denied Nadal's break chances - the first after a controversial decision in favor of the Spaniard. At the score of 6: 5, Nadal got three match balls - and used the second with an incredible forehand ball.
Jan-Lennard Struff will now head to Munich - Nadal, in turn, will be free in the coming week. In Barcelona there is still a lot to do.