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German tennis star Jan-Lennard Struff couldn't hide his happiness and excitement after surviving a tough Munich round-of-16 match against fellow compatriot Dominik Koepfer. Struff, ranked at No. 44 in the world, edged out world No.
54 Koepfer in three sets 7-6 (3) 6-7 (0) 6-2 to reach his fourth Munich quarterfinal. "I am very, very happy that I turned around the first set,” Struff said in his on-court interview, per the ATP website. “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 in the third set and I am very happy to be through. Dominik is a good guy and a very good player”.
Struff came up big in the third set
Koepfer was the first player to earn a break after breaking Struff in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Koepfer saved a break point in the eighth game but couldn't do the same two games later as Struff broke back to level the opener at five games apiece.
Koepfer paid the price for failing to serve out for the first set as Struff dominated the tie-break to steal the opener. Struff saved two consecutive set points on his serve in the 12th game to force a second set tie-break, which Koepfer dominated to force a third set.
The two players were all tied at two games apiece in the decider before Struff claimed back-to-back breaks to seal a win. Former world No. 29 Struff plays next Filip Krajinovic, who was given a walkover by Yannick Hanfmann.
“I am really looking forward to my match tomorrow against Filip Krajinovic… I think it is going to be a very tough match. I played him in Hamburg [seven] years ago and lost in three sets. I hope I can beat him tomorrow," Struff said.