'Lucky loser' Struff stuns Tsitsipas in Madrid
MADRID (AP) — Jan-Lennard Struff thought he was done at the Madrid Open when he lost to Aslan Karatsev in the final round of qualifying last week.
Then he got an unexpected spot in the tournament's main draw as the so-called lucky loser and has really made it count, upsetting fourth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-3 on Thursday to set up another shot at Karatsev — this time in the semifinals.
The big-serving German is just the third lucky loser to reach the semifinals of a Masters 1000 tournament.
The 33-year-old Stuff gets a chance to avenge a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Karatsev in qualifying. He only made it into the main draw because another player withdrew.
Struff had lost only five service games in the main draw en route to the quarterfinals and relinquished only one against Tsitsipas on his way to victory in the Spanish capital.
“It feels amazing. It was a very, very hard battle,” Struff said. “Very, very happy that I played this well today.”
The fifth-ranked Tsitsipas was coming off a final appearance at the Barcelona Open, where he lost to Carlos Alcaraz. He was a runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Madrid in 2019.
Defending champion Alcaraz faces 17th-seeded Borna Coric in the other semifinal.
Karatsev reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal after ending a strong run by Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The veteran Russian saved all three breaks points he faced in the first set and converted his only opportunity in the second.
“Aslan is playing amazing this week so far and he beat me pretty easily in qualies, I need to say," Struff said. "I didn’t play the best tennis in that match, but he made me play not good, I feel like. I think we need to analyze it now, focus on the match tomorrow and I hope I can do better.”
Karatsev has been ranked as high as 14th. In 2021, he became the first man on his Grand Slam debut to reach the Australian Open semifinals.
He became only the second qualifier to make the semifinals in Madrid.
“I started the year inside the top 100 then I dropped and lost some matches,” he said. “You have to keep going and believe, and I have a team behind me that is always supporting me and believing in me.”