Tsitsipas Stunned By Lucky Loser Struff in Madrid Quarterfinals

Stefanos Tsitsipas failed to continue his amazing clay season against Jan Lennard Struff at the Madrid Open. The German player edged him out in three sets.

Struff is enjoying possibly the best run of his career at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, with his serve wreaking havoc on opponents. His propensity to shorten the points by going forward has also helped him beat some amazing players along the way, as Tsitsipas became the latest victim of his onslaught.

This was the fourth quarter-final for Tsitsipas this year but he failed to make it his third semi-final. It was a very interesting match and not that big of a surprise overall, considering how well Struff has played at the event.

The opening set was a very close one which ultimately ended in a tiebreak that Struff won 7-5. Tsitsipas was actually kind of better in that opening set as he had a couple of break points and even a set point, but the German overcame all of that.

In the tie-break, Struff held his nerve despite digging himself into a hole by falling behind 1-4. He fought back and won it 7-5, winning six of the last seven points of the set.

Tsitsipas did much better in the second set, actually using his chances this time around. He once again didn’t allow a single break point but finally used the ones he had to win it 7-5.

The match went into a decider, in which Tsitsipas looked like the likely winner. He was holding serve easier and didn’t allow a single break point until then. However, Struff converted the first chance that he had in the match to take a 3-1 lead.

It came after Tsitsipas wasted one more break point, and the German held the lead until the end to win the match 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 in two hours and 32 minutes.

Struff, who faced 10 break points in the match and saved nine of them, reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, ending Tsitsipas' chances of returning to the Top 3.