HALLE, Germany — Jan-Lennard Struff overcame a strong challenge from grass-court debutant Luciano Darderi, who saved nine match points before bowing out of their first-round match at the Halle Open.
Struff, who hit 21 aces, was a break down in the decider but rallied past his rival 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (10) after fending off a match point in the final tiebreaker.
Struff, who needed 2 hours and 31 minutes to prevail, will next take on Stefanos Tstitsipas.
It was Darderi’s first grass-court match on the ATP Tour. Darderi grabbed the spotlight in February when he won the title in Cordoba as a qualifier. He is now ranked 34th.
