Jan-Lennard Struff is on the verge of great success in the first round of Wimbledon. In the end, Carlos Alcaraz lacks strength. Two other German tennis pros advance for the first time.
The spectators said goodbye to Jan-Lennard Struff under the closed roof of the second largest stadium in Wimbledon with thunderous applause. After a great fight, the 32-year-old Warsteiner narrowly missed the first-round coup against young Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz.
After 4:10 hours, the German Davis Cup player had to admit defeat 6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 7 (3: 7), 4: 6 and applauded the seventh in the world rankings The back. With their premiere victories in Wimbledon, Jule Niemeier and Maximilian Marterer made the 13 German tennis professionals in the main draw sit up and take notice at the start of the grass classic.
Struff conceded the decisive break to make it 4: 5 in the fifth set, and Alcaraz, number five, converted his second match point a little later. “He played very well,” Alcaraz praised his opponent. Struff defeated the child prodigy in the first round of the French Open last year. After winning four tournaments alone this year, the 19-year-old Spaniard has a completely different status and is currently seventh in the world rankings.
Niemeier won the Grand Slam tournament for the first time
The 22-year-old Niemeier prevailed after only 73 minutes 6: 1, 6: 4 against the Chinese Xiyu Wang and thus celebrated her first victory ever in a Grand Slam tournament. “I’m extremely happy with my performance today because I played very well from start to finish,” said the Dortmund native. Niemeier now faces an extremely difficult task and meets Estonian Anett Kontaveit, who is number two.
Marterer defeated the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene after 3:04 hours 4:6, 7:5, 6:4, 7:5 and was not discouraged by two longer breaks in the rain. “It feels incredible, I wouldn’t have expected that before the tournament,” said the man from Nuremberg, who had fought his way through qualification. Marterer achieved his first victory in Wimbledon in his second main round participation, he is now dealing with Frances Tiafoe from the USA.
Struff, on the other hand, narrowly failed in his first second round entry since 2019. The fracture of his big toe, which had stopped him for more than two months this year, was not noticeable for a long time. In view of the “brutally difficult task” he had announced before the game that he would deliver a “monster fight” – and Struff kept his word.
Especially with his up to 218 km/h fast serve and crashing forehands, he put his opponent under pressure at the beginning and kept his nerve in numerous tight moments. Struff fended off four breakballs in the first set and celebrated the set ball converted by an ace with an outstretched fist in the direction of his appendix in the stands.
Struff runs out of power in muggy conditions
The rain was pattering on the closed roof, and both players were not discouraged by the sometimes humid conditions. In the second set, Alcaraz was able to take the serve from Struff for the first time and repeatedly presented him with problems as the game progressed with strong passing balls. In the end, Struff also visibly lacked the strength.
The world rankings-97. Niemeier dominated her game against Wang at the beginning and remained sovereign even with increasing resistance from her opponent in the second set. Last year, she narrowly missed her first leap into the Wimbledon main draw. At the French Open in Paris, she had recently made her debut in one of the four largest tournaments, but narrowly lost there to Sloane Stephens from the USA. “It was very frustrating,” she recalled. “I’m happy that I’ve now won the main round at the second attempt.”
