French Open: Jan-Lennard Struff's sensational run ends with a match of missed opportunities
Despite great efforts in Paris, Jan-Lennard Struff missed his first quarter-finals at a Grand Slam tournament, but can still look back on a very strong tournament. Alexander Zverev has the semifinals firmly in view
by SID
last edit: Jun 07, 2021, 11:54 pm
When Jan-Lennard Struff shuffled disappointedly from the court of Suzanne Lenglen after three hours of pure passion, the German number two thundered appreciative applause. The 31-year-old Warsteiner had left his heart on the pitch and at the French Open in Paris fought relentlessly to the last point for the chance of his first quarter-finals in a Grand Slam tournament - but in the end Struff was only the audience's affection . For the previously impressive Alexander Zverev, however, the round of the last eight should only be an intermediate step towards something bigger.
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Struff lost his round of 16 duel on Monday with the number ten seeded clay court specialist Diego Schwartzman 6: 7 (9:11), 4: 6, 5: 7 despite a courageous performance . "The match just went really badly," said Struff dejectedly: "I missed many opportunities. In the end, I'm happy about the applause, but I would have much preferred if they had applauded me for winning the match."
Zverev with a feasible task in the quarterfinals
The brilliantly fighting Davis Cup player was missing a bit in the crucial situations to follow Zverev, who fights against the unset Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for his first semi-final at the clay court classic in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon (4 p.m. / Eurosport).
Struff mourned a possible quarter-final match against clay court king Rafael Nadal. "The matchup would have been awesome. I know that I can play well," said the family man: "I played my first final this year." Next in the tournament, however, is the world number one Novak Djokovic, who, however, needed five sets against the 19-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Struff almost made a comeback in set three
The last time in 1996 were Michael Stich and Bernd Karbacher, two German professionals, who made it to the quarter-finals of Roland Garros, and Struff was determined to ensure a repetition. The world number 42. started impressively against Schwartzman in the first set, quickly moved away to 5-1, but then the Argentine came back. Struff, who played his 30th Grand Slam tournament in Paris, left seven set balls and had to collect himself again after a tiebreak crime thriller. "It was extremely shitty that I didn't use the set balls," he said later.
In the second round, too, Struff acted at eye level, managed breaks, but in the end, last year's semi-finalist Schwartzman always had an answer ready. In the third set, Struff was already 4-0 down, but continued to fight tirelessly and won over the audience.
Becker sees Zverev among the favorites
Meanwhile, Zverev used Monday to prepare for his duel with the positively "crazy" Davidovich Fokina, as he called the 21-year-old: "He's sometimes unpredictable on the pitch. I know that I have to maintain my performance."
The world number six, who stubbornly pursues his dream of the first Grand Slam triumph, had impressively played in the 6: 4, 6: 1, 6: 1 Express victory against Kei Nishikori and then showed himself to be determined to follow up with further top performances . "I don't spray champagne on my head or anything," said the 24-year-old from Hamburg. The quarter-finals should not be the end of the line this year like 2018 and 2019. "He played his way into the circle of favorites," said Boris Becker at Eurosport.
Here the single tableau in Roland Garros
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