May 05, (THEWILL) – Jan-Lennard Struff, who entered the Madrid Open as a lucky loser, pulled off an incredible upset as he beat world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Struff won in three sets 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 to reach his first-ever Masters 1000 semifinal. He will face Aslan Karatsev in the next round, whom he also played earlier in the tournament during qualifying, losing in straight sets.
In the match against Tsitsipas, Struff showed no signs of being an underdog as he dominated the Greek for most of the match. Although Tsitsipas had a chance to make a breakthrough by landing two break points in the early stages of the game, he could not convert them, and Struff took control of the match from thereon.
In the third set, Struff managed to break Tsitsipas, and with his backhand down the line working brilliantly, he marched to a 5-2 lead and eventually wrapped up the match on his second match point.
Struff’s journey at the Madrid Open has been nothing short of remarkable, and he has defeated some high-profile players en route to his semi-final appearance. With his current form, the 33-year-old German could cause another upset against Karatsev and make it to his first Masters 1000 final.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
