Otte Ousts Basilashvili In Halle

Oscar Otte and “Gerry Berry“ (photo: Terra Wortmann Open/Mathias Schulz)

HALLE, WESTPHALIA/STARNBERG, June 16, 2022

Home favourite Oscar Otte continued his fine run of form on the grass, as he rallied to a 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(3) second-round win on Thursday against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia to reach the quarterfinals of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle in his tournament debut.

The World No. 51 from Germany, who made it to the stage of the final four at the Tennis Club Weissenhof in Stuttgart last week, struck 15 aces and won 87 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 56 minutes.

“The audience pulled me through after losing the opening set. I still can’t really believe it. I’m enjoying the win for now,” said Otte, who will next take on Karen Khachanov. The eighth-seeded Russian beat Serbia’s Laslo Djere 7-6(4), 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutes.

“We played once [before] on a grass court at junior Wimbledon, I lost in three sets,” said Khachanov after his one-hour, 43-minute victory. “I remember that match perfectly, what I did wrong in the third set. I think I was even a break up in the third and ended up losing 6-3. This time I took revenge on grass finally.”

Medvedev leads quarterfinals line-up

In other action, top seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Ilva Ivashka from Belarus for the second time within two weeks. Six days after a quarterfinal win at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the World No. 1 from Russia secured a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory in Westphalia, Germany.

Medvedev saved all six break points he faced and capitalized on one of his own six break-point chances to succeed after one hour and 36 minutes.

“He is a great player,” said Medvedev after he improved his lead in the pair’s head-to-head series to 3-1. “He had a lot of bad luck with injuries at the beginning of the season. At the end of last season he was playing really great tennis.

“I’ve known him since I was very young, we actually played [each other] in Futures, Challengers, and on the ATP Tour. He beat me once in Davis Cup, which is a really important tournament. So he knows how to play tennis, he knows how to play well on grass, so I’m really happy that two times in a row I managed to pass a tough test.”