FFor Davis Cup player Jan-Lennard Struff, the Australian Open ended in the first round. With a clear 4: 6, 3: 6, 2: 6 against the Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, the 31-year-old tennis pro from Warstein said goodbye to the individual competition on Tuesday. Philipp Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, won his opening match against the Italian Marco Cecchinato 6: 4, 7: 5, 7: 6 (7: 0) and further improved the German men’s record at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season with his second round entry . “Winning is always great,” said the 38-year-old. His performance was “impeccable”.
The Augsburger now faces a more difficult task on Thursday against the 15th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut. Alexander Zverev, Dominik Koepfer, Yannick Hanfmann and Oscar Otte had already progressed before him on Monday.
“It really wasn’t good”
Struff’s disappointment, on the other hand, was “huge”. It actually looked good at the beginning, with 4: 2 the number 52 in the world was ahead. “Suddenly it’s 4: 6, where it suddenly runs away so quickly,” Struff quarreled. “Then I actually pulled myself together quite a bit, but then I made life difficult for myself again. I have to be honest: I wasn’t happy with the way I played. It really wasn’t good.”
For him, a negative series at the Australian Open continued. Only in 2018 did the Sauerlander win a single in Melbourne, and he is taking part for the eighth time this year. He cannot explain himself why the first sporting highlight of the tennis season does not suit him. “I don’t know why things aren’t going so well here,” Struff puzzled and considered a variant: “The places are relatively fast. Sometimes I need a little time for my game. But normally that could actually suit me well.”
Garbiñe Muguruza confidently continues
The world number 57. van de Zandschulp is only five places behind Struff and drew attention to himself at the US Open last September. As a qualifier, he reached the quarterfinals in New York and was the only player to win a set against eventual Russian tournament winner Daniil Medvedev.
In the women’s category, Garbiñe Muguruza, third in the world rankings, made it through confidently in Melbourne. The 2020 Australian Open finalist won 6-3, 6-4 against Clara Burel of France. Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who took part in the 2019 final, suffered a surprisingly clear 6-2, 6-2 loss to Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
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