Jan-Lennard Struff and Jack Draper set a hard-hitting late-season conflict on Thursday on the Sofia Open, the place the pair notched contrasting quarter-final victories on the indoor ATP 250.
The third-seeded Struff overcame Fabian Marozsan 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 in a one-hour, 58-minute battle in Bulgaria to succeed in his first hard-court ATP Tour semi-final since 2021. The 33-year-old German, who’s now 20-16 for the season, rallied from 0-2 within the deciding set to prevail in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head conflict with Marozsan.
“I feel it was a fantastic match of very excessive depth and an excellent degree,” stated Struff. “I felt like [we both] performed an excellent first set. Within the second I gave away one break with a double fault, which I feel was surprising. However within the third he was a break up and I managed to remain in, battle for each level and [be aggressive] on return.”
Bend it like Struff 🥶
Pretty whip from @Struffitennis! @sofiaopentennis | #SofiaOpen pic.twitter.com/EoXVpmnuoC
— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 9, 2023
Struff’s subsequent check in Sofia is a semi-final assembly with Draper, who eased previous wild card Cem Ilkel 6-2, 6-2 to again up his second-round win in opposition to high seed Lorenzo Musetti. The 21-year-old Briton transformed 4 of 9 break factors he earned to ebook his third look in an ATP Tour semi-final after Eastbourne in 2022 (I. to Cressy) and Adelaide-2 in 2023 (I. to Kwon).
“I feel he’s a extremely strong participant,” stated Draper of Turkey’s Ilkel after the match. “It was tough within the rallies however I believed I used to be actually sturdy and my ball velocity was superb. I used to be in a position to flip defence into assault rather well immediately, so I’m pleased with the best way I performed.”
Friday’s semi-final assembly between Struff and Draper would be the first of their Lexus ATP Head2Head collection. It’s going to even be a collision between two of the cleanest ballstrikers on Tour.
“He’s somebody who has had a tremendous season and received lots of matches,” stated Draper of Struff. “He performs a extremely huge sport, so will probably be two huge hitters taking part in and hopefully will probably be an excellent match.”
