Third seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States got the better of Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6 7-6 7-6 in a pulsating match to win the BOSS Open title in Stuttgart on Sunday. It was the 25-year-old American’s third career singles title.
Struff, the 33-year-old home-favorite, did his bit, though, to make the match a memorable one. It was a pity that one of them had to lose on the day, when neither of them probably deserved to.
Frances Tiafoe Edges Jan-Lennard Struff in Thriller to Win Stuttgart
Tiafoe had to withstand the onslaught of Struff’s serve-and-volley:
Struff served big in the match as per the expectations. The German made it a point to serve-and-volley extensively, especially from the deuce court, and put pressure on the American with his backhand volleys.
However, Tiafoe did not try to emulate the German for the most part and stuck to his low-risk approach from the baseline. As a result, despite firing 28 aces in the match and breaching the 200 kmph mark repeatedly with his serve, the German could win only 79% of the points on his first serve, as compared to Tiafoe’s 83%.
Tiafoe won a cliffhanger with a couple of tiebreak wins:
After Struff had managed to win the first set by breaking the American once, Tiafoe bounced back in the second set by having a set point in the 10th game on Struff’s serve. However, the German managed to save it and take the set into a tie-break that the American won at a canter.
Struff continued his net-rushing in the third set as well, but Tiafoe was the more accurate of the two in terms of shotmaking. Still, the German’s inside-out forehand won him quite a few points.
The tie-break in the third set was a well-contested one, with Tiafoe having a match point at 6-5. However, Struff saved it and the topsy-turvy battle continued until the American finally won it 10-8 to seal the match.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
