After reaching the quarter-finals at the grass court tournament in Halle, Westphalia, Oscar Otte shouted out his joy and relief
“It’s great that I’m through,” said the 28-year-old tennis pro from Cologne after his 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Georgian Nikolos Bassilashvili in the last 16. Otte’s second match point after 1:56 hours made his progress perfect. This means that at least one German has reached the quarter-finals at the ATP event, which is endowed with 2.275 million euros.
In the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev, hopes rest on Otte. “You can already tell. You don’t want to be the last German to be eliminated here,” said the German number two. “I can’t really believe it yet. I’m enjoying the win for now.” Otte will now face Karen Khachanov in the semi-finals on Friday. The Russian defeated Laslo Djere of Serbia 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
Weak Otte start
Otte got off to a weak start in the OWL Arena and conceded a quick break. The Cologne player served well after that, but Otte had big problems with his return game. It was only at 4:5 that he had the first two break points, but he was unable to take them. Instead, Bassilashvili won the first set after 36 minutes at the second attempt.
However, Otte now stepped up his game. The Davis Cup professional managed a quick break in the second leg, after which he had the match under control and managed to level the set 6-0 after 1:06 hours of play. In the third set, Otte and Bassilashvili did not give each other anything. At 5:5, Otte had to survive a critical phase with two break points, but fought off both. The first with a spectacular volley in the fall.
The momentum was now on Otte’s side. In the tiebreak, he made it perfect to the cheers of the spectators. “The spectators carried me today. Especially after losing the second set,” Otte said.
World number one Daniil Medvedev also made it to the quarter-finals. The Russian won against Ilya Ivashka from Belarus 7:6 (7:4), 6:3, but had to fight hard especially in the first set. Ivashka, who had defeated local hero Jan-Lennard Struff in the first set, missed three set points before Medvedev finally got the match under control. After 1:36 hours, the world number one made use of the third match point.
