After Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff was also eliminated in the round of 16 at the tennis tournament in Madrid.
At the ATP Masters in Madrid on Tuesday (April 30, 2024), Zverev surprisingly lost to the strong Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo 3:6, 4:6 and was eliminated in the round of 16 in the Spanish capital for the second time in a row.
Round of 16 arrow right
In the evening, Struff also lost his match against Carlos Alcaraz. In the end it was 3:6, 7:6 (7:5), 6:7 (4:7) from the German’s point of view. Struff fought his way back into the match after the set was 0-1 and fended off four match points.
Beast Ratlos
After the game, Zverev appeared at a loss in the “Sky” interview. “I don’t really understand it at the moment because the shots weren’t that bad,” said Zverev. “It’s confusing for me when I have the ball in my racket like that, when I’m serving at 227 km/h and then Losing 3:6, 4:6. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
First good start in Madrid
Less than four weeks before the start of the second Grand Slam tournament of the year in Paris (May 26th to June 9th), Zverev is looking for his form on clay. After his early exit in Munich, the world number five had a good start to the tournament in Madrid with two confident victories, with the world number 22. Cerundolo, the two-time tournament winner (2018 and 2021), had problems from the start.
Zverev complained early on about what he considered to be too bright and therefore irritating perimeter advertising, but the Argentinian did not let himself be disturbed and played cheekily. After an early break in the second set, Cerundolo was unstoppable and used his second match point to win after 1:28 hours of play.
Struff keeps up very well for a long time
Jan-Lennard Struff took a long time to find an answer to his opponent’s variable game. In the new edition of last year’s final, he put the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in dire straits, but fought in vain. Struff (34) recently won his first title in Munich, and in the “Caja Magica” he continued his winning streak and went confidently into the duel with Alcaraz.
“We’re trying to ride the wave,” said his coach Marvin Netuschil. In the 2023 final, Struff was “at least on par,” and this time too he kept the match open for a long time. But the defending champion and Wimbledon winner kept his nerve in the third set and converted his fifth match point after 2:52 hours.
Even if Struff now slips in the ranking and the seeding for the French Open is in danger, the end should not mean too much of a setback on the way to Paris (May 26th to June 9th).