With the half-empty drinking bottle in his right hand, Oscar Otte waved into the audience and once again received great applause from the spectators.
Despite another strong performance at the grass court tournament in Halle, Westphalia, the Davis Cup professional missed the next surprise against Daniil Medvedev and left a great opportunity unused, especially in the first set. After 1:37 hours, Otte had to admit defeat to the world number one from Russia in the semi-finals with 6:7 (3:7), 3:6.
“Made mega buck again “
“It was a good match. I had my chances, didn’t take them. But when you play against the one, you have to take them,” Otte said on ZDF. “It was mega shock again on centre court. But of course it’s always disappointing when you lose – no matter against whom.”
A good week before the start of the grass-court classic in Wimbledon, it was not enough for Otte to reach the first ATP final of his tennis career. In the first two service games of Medvedev, who had not yet surrendered his service in the entire tournament, Otte was initially unable to convert two break points. A backhand error by the top-seeded Russian then gave the 28-year-old from Cologne a 5:3 lead – but Otte double-faulted on his own serve and set point.
“It was a tough match, he served to win the set,” Medvedev said full of appreciation. “It was so hot and I had to run a lot. I knew he was an insanely good player.” The straight re-break gave Medvedev further confidence and he took the first set with five points in a row to end the tie-break. In the second, Medvedev managed the decisive break to make it 4-2. Even the crowd could not bring Otte, who became a crowd favourite in the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev, back into the match.
