Jan-Lennard Struff needed three hours and a final-set tie-break to reach his second BMW Open semi-final on Friday.
The seventh seed recovered from a break down on two occasions in the decider and closed the net well in the final-set tie-break to defeat Filip Krajinovic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) on Centre Court. Struff is through to his second semi-final in Munich, seven years after reaching the same stage in 2014 (l. to Fognini).
“It was a very, very hard match,” Struff said in his on-court interview. “I expected a very tough match and a hard fight… In the end, I am very happy that I could reach my second semi-final in Munich.”
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With his first ATP Head2Head victory against Krajinovic (tied at 1-1), Struff improved to 11-6 at the ATP 250. Struff is attempting to reach his maiden ATP Tour championship match this week.
The 31-year-old will face top seed Alexander Zverev or Ilya Ivashka for a spot in the championship match. Struff trails Zverev 1-4 in their ATP Head2Head rivalry, which includes back-to-back quarter-final losses at this event in 2017 and 2018. Struff won his only previous ATP Head2Head encounter against Ivashka last year.
“I would love to play [Zverev],” Struff said. “I wish him all the best for the match coming up now against Ivashka, who is a very good player. I would love to play Sascha here for the third time and try to beat him, because I lost twice against him here on Centre Court. I hope that we have a German semi-final.”
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3xBLzr6
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