18 aces on Stuttgart lawn
Struff storms into the semifinals on Stich’s footsteps
6/16/2023, 7:46 p.m
No German tennis pro has won the tournament in Stuttgart since 1991. Jan-Lennard Struff is the big hope this year – especially since he once again proved himself to be a strong server in the quarterfinals. For the second final of this year he has to overcome a high hurdle.
Like in 2019, Jan-Lennard Struff has reached the semifinals of the tennis tournament in Stuttgart. The in-form Sauerlander won his quarter-finals against Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6:4, 7:5 and thus celebrated his third victory at this year’s grass event. In the semifinals on Saturday (not before 3:30 p.m./ServusTV and Sky), the only remaining German participant will fight against former Wimbledon semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz from Poland to reach the second final of the year.
“Of course I’m happy to be able to play in front of the fans again on Saturday. Hopefully the journey isn’t over yet,” said Struff on ServusTV: “It wasn’t that easy, he got off to a little better start. I managed it somehow , to stay tuned. It’s always something special to be able to play here in Germany.”
Madrid finalist Struff started with some unusual, minor mistakes on the now windy Center Court, but in the end his success was not seriously threatened. Surprisingly, Struff did not face Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was seeded first, after Gasquet had disenchanted the Greek fifth in the world rankings in three sentences on Thursday.
Tiafoe and Fucsovics in the second semifinal
Initially, the Sauerlander had to fight more for his service games than the Frenchman. Supported by around 4,500 spectators, the Warsteiner got into the game better in the middle of the first set and took the world number 55. to 4: 3 off the serve. Suddenly things were going well with his own service and he deservedly got the first set. In the balanced second set, Struff then helped two consecutive double mistakes from Gasquet for the decisive break to 5: 4. The German Davis Cup player, however, was able to rely on his serve. His 18 aces faced just two double faults.
Four years ago, Struff lost in the semifinals to eventual Italian tournament winner Matteo Berrettini. Last year, Oscar Otte from Cologne missed the leap into the final as a semi-finalist. The last German tournament winner at the Weissenhof was Michael Stich in 1991.
This year’s final will be held on Sunday. The other semi-final will also be contested on Saturday (11.30 a.m. / ServusTV and Sky) by the American world number 12. Frances Tiafoe and Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics.