Jan-Lennard Struff must play to the end of the quarter-finals tomorrow
High-calibre final at the Allianz Para Trophy
It was very cold, windy and rainy on this Friday quarter-final and those are three things that Alexander Zverev doesn't like at all. He had high hopes and wanted to take revenge for the disappointments of previous years, but was eliminated in the quarter-finals against Cristian Garin from Chile: "I simply can't win in weather like this," said Zverev after the match, "all my weapons are taken away from me. Serve, forehand and my fast backhand, all ineffective." However: Garin, the world number 106, was also the more active player from the start and fought for every ball. After exactly two hours, the 2019 BMW Open winner converted his second match point to win 6:4 and 6:4.
There he will face Taylor Fritz from the USA. He was determined to reach the semi-finals of the BMW Open again, as the world number 15 had already announced before the tournament. The match against Jack Draper from Great Britain was a tough piece of work, very evenly matched and was only decided in the tie-break of the third set: "I had the right attitude," said Fritz after the match, "I really wanted to win. But the conditions were really tough."
The second semi-final is not yet complete, as the last match of the day between Jan-Lennard Struff and Felix Auger-Aliassime had to be cancelled and postponed until tomorrow due to the worsening conditions and the onset of darkness. At this point, Struff had won the first set 7:5 and was leading the second set by a break and 3:1. It had become so cold that the Canadian had put on gloves to warm up his fingers a little when changing sides. Defending champion Holger Rune will therefore have to wait a little longer for his opponent.
The Dane had a surprisingly tough time against Marc-Andrea Huesler from Switzerland, who had played his way into the main draw via qualifying. It was expected that the BMW Open winner of the last two years would win clearly against the world number 223, but it was an even match for long stretches, which Rune was able to win in the end in the pouring rain (6:4; 7:6(3)).
Difficult conditions at the Allianz Para Trophy too. And there was a big surprise today, as tournament favourite Gustavo Fernandez from Argentina lost to Gordon Reid from Great Britain in two sets, 4:6 and 4:6. Reid will now face the tournament's number three, Martin De la Puente from Spain, who beat Stephane Houdet from France 7:6 and 6:2 in the final tomorrow. The final will take place tomorrow.
