Incredible story! German tennis player lost in qualifying, yet he will play the most important match of his career in Madrid

Jan-Lennard Struff probably never expected to have such an opportunity again. On Sunday evening, the German tennis player will play the ATP Masters final in Madrid. Whatever the outcome of the match, he will improve on his career high.

Jan-Lennard Struff is having a relatively successful season. He played the semi-finals on the hard surface in Bahrain and Phoenix. He has made the transition to clay very well, and he is even more successful on the slowest surface.

In Monte Carlo, he made it through the qualifying rounds and progressed to the quarter-finals. However, he lost to Andrey Rublev, who won after 6:1 and 7:6 sets. But as the result suggests, the second set was extremely even.

The German had to intervene in the qualification fights in Madrid as well. However, he lost to Karatsev in a direct battle for the main event. So it seemed that he would not play any more matches in the Spanish capital.

But the opposite was true. The thirty-three year old tennis player was the number one seed in the qualification, so he entered the main competition as a lucky loser. However, in the first round he was not facing an easy draw as he met Sonega.

But Struff confirmed his excellent form and won in two sets without any major problems. Since then, however, all as matches have offered three sets. In succession, he dealt with Shelton, Lajovic, Cachin, Tsitsipas and Karatsev.

Struff is the first tennis player ever to reach the ATP Masters final after losing a duel in qualifying. He will play Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday. The defending champion and home player will be a big favourite.

But for Struff, reaching the final in Madrid is the biggest achievement of his career so far. He will move up to 28th in Monday’s edition of the ATP rankings, improving his career high.

If he manages to win on Sunday as well, he would have 1,787 points to his credit and would move up to 21st position.

Source: ATP