Maximilian Marterer has reached the round of 16 for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open. The 70th World Ranking from Nuremberg took his chance and defeated Lucky Loser Jurgen Zopp from Estonia 6:2, 6:1, 6:4 and became the second German after Alexander Zverev in the round of the last 16. The Spanish sand court king Rafael Nadal, who will meet Richard Gasquet (France) on Saturday, could now wait there.
Maximilian Marterer turned his first match point after 1:39 hours with a serve winner and ended a rather one-sided game with the desired success. After his surprising third round debut at the Australian Open in January, the 22-year-old continued his high flight – and can now dream of the ultimate challenge.
In his first major round of 16 on Monday, Torterer could meet the top seeded Nadal, who has already won the title ten times in his oasis of well-being, Roland Garros. From a German perspective, Torterer remains the rising star of the season.
“It’s always been an incredible dream of mine to play Rafa. I have already trained with him here,” said Marterer in the Eurosport interview after the match and said: “It is already an incredible tournament for me. I played great and I rewarded myself today.”
The rather introverted Franconian, by the way a fan of the 1899 Hoffenheim soccer team, experienced bitter moments last season. At the US Open in Flushing Meadows in August, Maxi won his 14th consecutive first-round defeat on the ATP tour and at Grand Slams.
As a result, Marterer decided to temporarily withdraw and gained self-confidence in the Challenger competitions. The protégé of Davis Cup tram boss Michael Kohlmann got the feeling for winning again. “Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to get back on track,” said Marterer.
The duel with Zopp, number 136 in the ATP ranking, was the favourite right from the start. Early on Court 7, Marterer scored his first 3-1 break and his aggressive play forced Lucky Loser, who was still suffering from stomach upset at the start of the tournament, to make many mistakes.
Meanwhile, Torterer only made two Unforced Errors (eleven in all) in the opening round. Symptomatic of its concentrated and formidable performance.