Jan-Lennard Struff defeats Aslan Karatsev in the Madrid semi-finals and reaches his first Masters final

Jan-Lennard Struff couldn’t really digest his ‘amazing week’ in Madrid even after picking up the biggest win of his career – his superstar fans cheered the extraordinary success even more. Alexander Zverev, world soccer champion Mats Hummels and table tennis star Dimitrij Ovcharov were happy on Instagram about Struv’s first-time entry into the Masters final, even tennis icon Boris Becker was over the moon.

“Strophy, you are a machine!!!” , the three-time Wimbledon winner wrote about the happiest “lucky loser” in the world of tennis. After all, Struff had already failed the qualifying round in Madrid – and first fought with the world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas with indomitable courage, and after 24 hours also won the semifinals against Aslan Karazio 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4.

“It’s great. I’m really happy, it’s been a great week,” Struff said after the win over Tsitsipas on the Sky microphone. In the final he meets now favorite local champion Carlos Alcaraz, whom he defeated two years ago on clay at Roland Garros. “Of course it will be very difficult now against Carlos, but I will try. I will do everything to win my first title,” Struff said.

Strange: Warsteiner was already eliminated against Russia’s Karazio in qualifying last week, but Struve still moved to the main field due to cancellations – and made excellent use of his unexpected opportunity. “I wouldn’t have believed that a week ago either,” Struve said. “It’s a crazy world sometimes.”

The injury slowed Struff down for a long time

For Struve, this also ended a period of suffering. “I’m just happy to be back,” he said, recalling that a broken toe had slowed him down last year and even knocked him out of the top 100 in the world rankings.

Now the 33-year-old, who has only reached the final once on the ATP Tour and is still waiting for a tournament win, is scratching even the top 30, his highest position to date (29) within reach. And soon he could replace Olympic champion Zverev as the first German.

Struff Coach Netochel: “Powerful Energy Performance”

Strouff attributed a large part of this resurrection to his team, who vocally supported him in Madrid. “I came out of the penalty area completely again, it was world class,” said coach Corrado Chapochnej after the turn against Tsitsipas.

Struff’s coach, Marvin Netochell, was also excited. “I can’t believe it, it’s an absolute highlight. Now it’s time to have fun. That was a monster energy performance today,” he said – and agrees with Boris Becker. He had already predicted that Struve’s amazing journey in Madrid was “not over yet”.

(SID)