Tiafoe triumphs in Stuttgart
Struff is left behind in the nerve thriller finale
06/18/2023, 6:10 p.m
The German tennis pro Jan-Lennard Struff fought a thrilling duel with Frances Tiafoe at the final in Stuttgart. Over three sets, both players prove how strong their own service game is. In the end, the American is just ahead.
It’s bewitched: tennis pro Jan-Lennard Struff has also lost his third final on the ATP tour. The 33-year-old Warsteiner had to beat the favorite American Frances Tiafoe 6:4, 6:7 (1:7), 6:7 (8:10) in the final of the grass tournament in Stuttgart, which was worth almost 800,000 euros give.
Struff will still move up from 24th to 21st in the new world rankings on Monday and will again be the German number one ahead of the Hamburg French Open semi-finalist Alexander Zverev (22nd). If he had beaten Tiafoe, he would have entered the top 20 for the first time in 19th place. The US professional, for his part, is in tenth place for the first time in the top 10. In the new week, Struff wants to take the momentum to Halle in Westphalia, where Zverev is also contesting his first lawn event of the year.
In the tie-break, Tiafoe turned things up
Before the duel with number three seeded Tiafoe, semi-finalist at the US Open last year, Struff had also lost the finals at the 2021 clay court competitions in Munich and this year at the Masters in Madrid. In Spain’s capital, he lost to big favorite and local hero Carlos Alcaraz only after a big fight.
In the match against Tiafoe, against whom he had previously had a balanced record (1: 1), Struff remained strong. Although his serve wobbled in the first set (five double faults), Struff made up for the lack of precision with a big fight. In the second round, Struff continued to act courageously, but the service games became hanging games. In the tie-break, his opponent turned up the heat, Struff had no chance.
In the decisive set, both players showed nerves in front of the three-time Wimbledon winner Boris Becker, but each held their serve. The approximately 5,000 spectators now celebrated every successful action for Struff, the decision was made again by the tie-break. There Struff missed a match point, Tiafoe converted his third.