The next German tennis star has bowed out at the Australian Open. Jan-Lennard Struff had to admit defeat right from the start. Phillip Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, was able to win
Davis Cup player Jan-Lennard Struff has had a bye in the first round at the Australian Open. The 31-year-old tennis pro from Warstein, Germany, suffered a clear 4-6, 3-6, 2-6 loss to Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp on Tuesday, handing the world No. 52 his next opening defeat at the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. Struff has not won a singles match in Melbourne since 2018.
World No. 57 van de Zandschulp had attracted attention at the US Open last September. He reached the quarter-finals in New York as a qualifier and was the only player to win a set against eventual Russian tournament winner Daniil Medvedev.
Kohlschreiber masters opening duel
Philipp Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, won almost simultaneously against Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-0) and further improved the German men’s record with his second-round entry. The 38-year-old Augsburg native will now face 15th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday.
Of the German men, Alexander Zverev, Dominik Koepfer, Yannick Hanfmann and Oscar Otte had already won their opening matches on Monday.
