MUNICH, April 29, 2021
The quarterfinals of the BMW Open are set. No. 7 seed Jan-Lennard Struff booked his spot in the stage of the final eight on a cloudy Thursday afternoon at the MTTC Iphitos in Munich.
The 31-year-old emerged victorious from the all-German affair with Dominik Koepfer, winning 7-6(3), 6-7(0), 6-2. In the pair’s first meeting, Struff fired 11 aces and won 79 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after two hours and 38 minutes.
Hot Struff 🌡
Heartbreak for Koepfer on his 27th birthday as fellow German @Struffitennis comes through 7-6(3) 6-7(0) 6-2 in Munich 🇩🇪#BMWOpen pic.twitter.com/YdeOyyVwHW
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 29, 2021
“I am very, very happy that I turned around the first set,” Struff said in his on-court interview. “I played a not good second-set tie-break. Before [that] the set was okay, but I couldn’t lock into his service games that much… I am very happy that I broke him I the third set and I am very happy to be through. Dominik is a good guy and a very good player.”
In his fourth Munich quarterfinal, the World No. 44 will take on fourth seed Filip Krajinovic, who received a walkover Yannick Hanfmann. The German wild card entry was forced to withdraw from the match due to a neck injury.
In other action, Norbert Gombos from Slovakia reached his second quarterfinal of this year’s European clay-court swing with a 6-4, 6-1 win against Federico Coria of Argentina. The Marbella quarterfinalist, who replaced Russia’s Aslan Karatsev as a lucky loser in the BMW Open main draw, capitalized on five of his 14 break-point opportunities to advance after 68 minutes.
Gombos will next face fifth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia, who beat Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 16 minutes.
Quarter-Finals locked in🔒
🇷🇸 Krajinovic v. Struff 🇩🇪
🇩🇪 Zverev v. Ivashka 🇧🇾
🇦🇺 Millman v. Ruud 🇳🇴
🇬🇪 Basilashvili v. Gombos 🇸🇰Who’s reaching the last four at #BMWOpen? 👊
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 29, 2021
