Jan-Lenard Struff came into Wimbledon on a slow streak, having won only two matches all year, but with the capability from time to time to raise his level and do some damage. Carlos Alcaraz, of course, has had a stellar year, but skipped the grass court season and entered Wimbledon not having played a match in about four weeks, while making just his third appearance ever on grass.
Struff got off to a strong start, taking the first set 6-4 while riding his huge serve, which serves him well on grass. The surface works well with the German’s strengths, which also include heavy hitting both forehand and backhand. This is also Alcaraz’s M.O., but the Spaniard was having a hard time keeping up with Struff’s devastating strikes.
However, Alcaraz was able to hang tough in the second, and the set continued on serve until the very end, when Alcaraz managed to break. But the German came back with another strong performance to take the third 6-4 again, and to set the crowd buzzing over a possible upset.
In the fourth set, the older German began to look tired, and although he kept the set on serve, his 1st serve percentage sat well below the young Spaniard’s. Struff looked like he was going to break at 4-3, having jumped out to a 0-30 lead, when Alcaraz demonstrated his incredible quality, firing off four aces in a row! That wind filled the Spaniard’s sails in the eighth game, as he pushed hard against the big-serving German, in a game that saw seven deuces. But Struff managed to hold strong, and the match stayed on serve until the tiebreak.
Struff started off quick with a mini-break to lead 2-0, but from there Alcaraz took control, firing another two aces in a row and securing a couple mini-breaks to take the tiebreaker and force a deciding set.
The fifth stayed on serve until the back end, when Alcaraz, leaning on excellent forehand hitting, broke Struff in the ninth game to give himself a chance to serve out the match. The serve held well, as Alcaraz fired an ace to give himself two looks at match point, which he converted on the second try to take a tightly contested first round win.
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