STARNBERG, October 30, 2020
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe has reached his first quarterfinal on the ATP Challenger Tour since Todi, Italy in August following a straight-sets win over fellow German and No. 8 seed Oscar Otte at the Tennis Challenger Hamburg presented by Tannenhof on Thursday.
Stebe, who is seeking his eighth Challenger career title and first since 2017, broke Otte’s serve four times to advance in just under one hour of play.
“I feel particularly comfortable on the surface, here I can develop my game and attack at the right moment. Right from the start I was able to put on some pressure and had the match under control. I’m happy to be back in the quarterfinals and of course I’ll give my best tomorrow,” said Stebe after the match.
The 30-year-old from Mühlacker will next take on defending champion Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands. The World No. 157, who finished runner-up to Marc-Andrea Huesler from Switzerland at the Wolffkran Open in Ismaning last Sunday, defeated Illya Marchenko from the Ukraine 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 38 minutes.
Roman Safiullin caused the upset of the day by knocking out No. 3 seed J.J. Wolf from the United States 7-6(1), 6-4. The 23-year-old Russian won 58 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 27 minutes. Safiullin will play Austria’s Sebastian Ofner in the stage of the final eight in Hamburg.
Die heutigen Ergebnisse des #TennisChallengerHamburg im Überblick:
EINZEL/2. Runde:
R. Safiullin (RUS) d [3] J. Wolf (USA) 76(1) 64
C. Stebe (GER) d [8] O. Otte (GER) 63 63
B. Van de Zandschulp (NED) d [LL] I. Marchenko (UKR) 64 75#TCHH #ATPChallenger #Hamburg— DeutscherTennisBund (@DTB_Tennis) October 29, 2020
