Jan Lennard Struff battled past Fabian Marozsan 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-4 in 1 hour and 58 minutes at the Sofia Open to advance to his first hard-court ATP Tour semifinal since 2021.
Struff earned an early break at love in the first game. Maroszan converted his fourth break-back point in the second game. Both players went on serve en route to the tie-break. Struff earned two mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. Marozsan broke serve in in the fifth game to win the second set 6-4.
Marozsan started the third set with an early break in the first game. Struff broke back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Struff earned his second break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Maroszan broke straight back in the ninth game for 4-5. Struff sealed the win with a break on his fourth match point.
“I think it was a great match of very high intensity and a good level. I felt like we both played a very good first set. In the second set I gave away one away one break with a double fault, which I think was unexpected, but in the third set he was a break up and I managed to stay in, fight for every point and be aggressive on return”, said Struff.
Struff set up a semifinal match against Jack Draper, who cruised past Tunisia’s Cern Ilkel 6-2 6-2. Draper converted four of his nine break points he earned to reach his third ATP Tour semifinal after Eastbourne in 2022 and Adelaide 2 in 2023.
Draper did not face a break point and dropped just three points on his first serve. The British player earned two breaks in the second and eighth games to seal the opening set 6-2 on his first set point. Ikel saved two break points in the second game of the second set. Draper broke in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead and sealed the win with a second break on his first match point.
“I think he is a really solid player. It was difficult in the rallies but I thought I was really strong and my ball speed was very good. I was able to turn defence into attack really well today, so I am happy with the way I played”, said Draper.
Struff will meet Draper for the first time.
Adrian Mannarino came back from one set down to beat Sebastian Ofner 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-3 in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Ofner broke serve in the fourth game of the opening set and saved four break points in the fifth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Mannarino broke back in the seventh game and held serve to draw level to 4-4. Ofner sealed the tie-break on his fourth set point.
Ofner broke serve in the third game and saved two break points to hold serve for 3-1. Mannarino won four consecutive games from 2-4 to close out the second set 6-4.
Mannarino earned the first break in the second game of the third set to open up a 2-0 lead. Ofner broke back in the third game. Mannarino broke for the second time in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. The Frenchman faced two break points when he was serving for the match. He saved them before sealing the win on his first match point.
Mannarino set up a semifinal clash against Pavel Kotov, who beat Marton Fucsovics 6-3 7-6 (7-3) in 1 hour and 54 minutes. Kotov converted his two break points he earned in the match.
Kotov earned a break in the fourth game of the first set, but he faced three break-back points when he was serving for the set. The Russian player closed out the first set with a hold at deuce.
Fucsovics open up a 4-1 lead with a break in the fourth game. Kotov broke serve in the seventh game and saved two break points to hold serve in the eighth game for 4-4. Kotov won four consecutive points from 2-2 and sealed the tie-break 7-3 on his third match point.
