Jan-Lennard Struff reached the second round of the Masters in Indian Wells after a feat of strength. Tatjana Maria also made it there. Two other German players left early.
After a very weak first set, the 32-year-old won against Frenchman Quentin Halys 1: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 3. In the second round, the Warsteiner now meets the American Tommy Paul, seeded number 17. At the 10.1 million US dollar hard court tournament in California, three German men are in the second round.
Oscar Otte had already prevailed before Struff. He next plays against Russian Karen Khachanov. Olympic champion Alexander Zverev had a bye and meets Pedro Cachin from Argentina in the second round.
Maria in round two, Niemeier is out
Tatjana Maria confidently won her first round duel with Jasmine Paolini from Italy on Thursday 7:5, 6:1. The 35-year-old next meets eighth-seeded Russia’s Daria Kasatkina. At number 70 in the world, Maria is currently the German number one.
According to the ranking, the second-best German player is Jule Niemeier, who, however, did not find her way out of her earnings crisis at the hard court tournament in California, which is endowed with 8.8 million US dollars.
The 23-year-old from Dortmund fought hard for every point against Katerina Siniakova from the Czech Republic and lost 5:7, 4:6. The tournament is already over for them after round one. Niemeier is 72nd in the WTA rankings.
Oh Siegemund says goodbye early
Laura Siegemund is also eliminated. The Swabian had initially secured a place in the main draw in the qualification, but had to admit defeat to Madison Brengle from the USA 6:7 (5:7), 4:6. In the second set, Siegemund was already 3-0 up.