ATP Tour: Struff moves into the quarterfinals in Stuttgart

Last year’s finalist Jan-Lennard Struff continues to be successful at the grass tennis tournament in Stuttgart. With a 6:4, 7:6 (7:0) win against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, the Sauerland native secured his place in the quarterfinals. On Friday, the 34-year-old will face Brandon Nakashima from the USA.

“It was a tough match, but also a good match,” said the last remaining German singles participant. He feels very good at the moment and is looking forward to playing in Germany. “A win like this in Munich obviously helps,” said Struff, who celebrated his first ATP title there on clay in April.

Struff is still three wins away from winning the title at the Stuttgart Weissenhof. In his round of 16 match, he got off to a good start on his own serve. The man from Warstein held his service games confidently and was therefore always ahead.

Rinderknech was unable to threaten the German number two in his service games for a long time – until the score was 5:4. The tournament winner from Munich took advantage of a brief period of weakness on Rinderknech’s part.

Struff got into the rallies better with his returns and secured the first set with his fifth set point. Struff also served strongly in the second set. He clearly dominated the tiebreak and converted his first match point after 79 minutes.

At the Stuttgart grass tournament, with prize money of 812,235 euros, the professionals are preparing for Wimbledon (July 1 – 14). Yannick Hanfmann from Karlsruhe and Dominik Koepfer from the Black Forest were eliminated in the round of 16.

French Open finalist Alexander Zverev canceled his participation after missing out on the Grand Slam title in Paris. The Hamburg native will now begin his grass season next week in Halle, Westphalia.