Jan-Lennard Struff has taken Germany to the brink of its first appearance in the ATP Cup semi-finals after rallying to defeat Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 under the closed roof at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
Alexander Zverev will try to finish the job for the Germans against World No. 1 Novak Djokovic after his countryman's crucial opening victory. With Canada already eliminated from Group A, a semi-final clash against Russia is up for grabs for the winner of today’s tie.
Zverev will look to snap Djokovic’s 10-match winning streak at the ATP Cup across singles and doubles, and send his country into the semi-finals. He’s been up to the task in the past, with two victories over Djokovic in their ATP Head2Head.
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Struff, who also represented Germany in 2020, won his third consecutive ATP Cup match with an upset over former World No. 3 Milos Raonic to give his country a winning start, and backed it up against a Lajovic that came out swinging in the opening set. The Serbian outlasted him at the baseline to claim the first break of the match at 4-2. He exploited the German’s movement as he continually dragged Struff out wide and followed up with down-the-line winners to close out the opening set.
But Struff raised his level in the second set, and saved four break points across two service games to keep Lajovic at bay. The German finally broke through at 5-3, and levelled the score after serving out the set to love. Lajovic looked to be struggling physically, and needed a medical time out to treat blisters on his feet after dropping the second set.
Struff kept Lajovic on the defence and under pressure with his big serve, and he edged in front after trading breaks of serve for a 5-4 lead. Lajovic couldn’t convert on two more break points as Struff claimed the victory after just over two hours on court.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3rld4B6
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