Jan-Lennard Struff (28) has reached the third round of the US Open for the first time in the fifth attempt. The Davis Cup player from Warstein won 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 against the Frenchman Julien Benneteau after 2:58 hours, equalising his best Grand Slam result so far, which he had only set in Wimbledon in July.
The grandstands on Court 11 became a German enclave late Thursday afternoon in New York City. Struff was able to count on the support of numerous fans from his home country – which he also needed bitterly towards the end. Although the Davis Cup player took the lead with a break, he had to relinquish his serve immediately.
Struff also had problems at 3-3, but saved himself with a spectacular volley, which made Benneteau so desperate that the Frenchman let down his pants for a moment. The decisive break to 5:3 followed, after which the German struggled to get out of the match.
On Saturday Struff will either play against tenth seed David Goffin (Belgium) or Robin Haase from the Netherlands for his first round of 16 in one of the four major tournaments. Also on Saturday, the German duel between Alexander Zverev (Hamburg/No. 4) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (Augsburg) will take place in the third round.
For Julien Benneteau the match against Zverev was probably his last big performance on the tennis stage.
Here is the men’s single tableau at the US Open 2018