Jan-Lennard Struff sent off top seed and defending champion Karen Khachanov at the Almaty Open on Thursday.
The 35-year-old German player relied on a strong serving performance to defeat the world No. 10 player 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, although he did not reach the first break point until 1 hour and 40 minutes into the match.
Strav reversed the situation in the second set tiebreaker and then broke Khachanov for the first time to open the deciding set. He then saved a break point to bring the score to 3-1, and then tied the score to 4-2 through four draws.
Straff took a fourth match point in the final game, breaking Khachanov’s serve to advance to the quarterfinals with eighth seed Corentin Moutei.
The former world No. 21 (now No. 98) Struff hit 12 aces in the second and third sets and faced no break points. He improved his record to 2-3 against Khachanov.
Earlier in the day, Daniil Medvedev won 7-5, 7-6(0) in a tight battle with Adam Walton. Medvedev ran into trouble in the second set, with Walton having five double-break opportunities to lead 5-1, but the former world No. 1 played some fantastic tennis late in the match.
He said he liked the home atmosphere in Almaty, where Russian-speaking fans cheered him on.
“I was very nervous in this game, which is probably not common for me,” he said. “I mean, everyone gets nervous during a match – you have break points, you feel the pressure. But in this match, I was under a lot of pressure, which I put on myself for reasons I won’t reveal. Like, this was probably the closest thing to a ‘home’ match for me, and that added some pressure too – people watching, cheering in Russian.”
Medvedev will face Fabian Marossan in the quarter-finals.
Alex Michelson and Shintaro Mochizuki also advanced on Thursday – they will face each other in the quarterfinals.
Michelsen defeated Aleksandar Vukic 6-3, 6-2, while Mochizuki Shinichi beat fourth seed Luciano Dadri 6-3, 6-3. It was a significant win for the former teenage No. 1, who is confident of reaching the Top 100 for the first time on Monday – moving his live ranking to No. 92.
