Struff Topples Raonic, Puts Germany Ahead & Canada In Danger
Germany’s No. 2 singles player Jan-Lennard Struff claimed a major victory for his country after taking down former World No. 3 Milos Raonic 7-6(4), 7-6(2) on Wednesday to start his ATP Cup campaign.
Struff’s victory puts Team Germany in a comfortable position as they begin their Group A campaign, but it also means that alarm bells are ringing for Team Canada. After falling against defending champion Serbia on Monday, the Canadian side is on the brink of elimination from the ATP Cup. Denis Shapovalov must defeat Alexander Zverev in the No. 1 singles to keep his country alive and force a deciding doubles rubber.
Should Germany win, they will face defending champion Serbia, led by World No.1 Novak Djokovic, in a ‘win-and-you’re-in’ battle for Group A on Thursday.
[WATCH LIVE 1]Struff, No. 37 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, kept pace with the big serving Canadian throughout a tense opening set without any break points on offer. Raonic was impenetrable in the first set, and didn’t lose more than one point in any of his service games. But Struff stayed patient, and was rewarded in the tie-break. He managed to get a racquet on his first return, and outlasted Raonic to earn the mini-break. Raonic couldn’t dig himself back as Struff escaped with the first set.
The German handed Raonic his first break of serve at the ATP Cup to take a 2-0 lead in the second set, but the Canadian responded in kind to level the score 2-2. Raonic survived three double faults in the same game and saved five break points in a lengthy battle for 4-4. But Struff once again found his best tennis in the tie-break, winning the first five points in a row before closing out the victory after two hours on court.
“I knew that playing against Milos [would be] very tough. He is serving so [well], he’s won so many tournaments and he’s such a good champion,” Struff said on court. “In our three meetings, I beat him once before. So I knew I would have to play a good match, and I’m very pleased with the way I played. I played very good tie-breaks in both sets.”
More to follow…