BMW Open in Munich, 1st round, Tuesday, 18.04.2023
Climbed up almost 40 places in the ranking, played a great Masters and put the fear of God into several top stars? It may be a German player, but not the supposed best, Alexander Zverev!
It’s someone else who is the talk of the town at the moment and of course also wants to impress at the BMW Open at home. Already in the 1st round he is clearly favored at Bet-at-Home, in my Ritschard Struff tip I now reveal why I therefore do not expect a too lengthy affair!
Jan-Lennard Struff has already shown a few times this year what he is capable of, but at the latest in Monte Carlo he convinced even the last doubter. When the Masters got underway, he still found himself in 100th place in the rankings.
Now, shortly after the end, a 64 lights up. He has made up almost 40 places, no wonder with his great result. After wins against Juan Pablo Varillas, Emil Ruusuvuori and Albert Ramos-Vinolas, a triumph began.
6-3, 6-2 against Alex de Minaur and 6-1, 7-6 against Casper Ruud, he thrilled the crowd and at once found himself in the quarterfinals. In the round of the best eight, however, his streak snapped.
1-6, 6-7 against Andrey Rublev, especially the messed up first set put a spoke in his wheel. Still, Struff picked up a lot of justified compliments and of course would like to repeat his performance in his home country.
In Munich, he not only has the crowd behind him, he also brings great experience with him. In 2021, the last time he appeared at the BMW Open, he made it to the final! By a hair’s breadth, he also rewarded himself with the title there.
4-6, 6-7 against Nikolos Bassliaschwili, the defeat hurt a lot back then. Now it should be different, a failure at the beginning is not to be thought of. He has never had to deal with Alexander Ritschard, his current opponent.
The Masters in Monte Carlo has obviously changed a lot for our bettors, as Jan-Lennard Struff is not only ahead, but has built up a significant lead at odds of 1.12 to 6.00.
Even a 2-0 win for the German would only come in at a slim 1.50. Alexander Ritschard should therefore know: He is the clear underdog here, also the fans will rather support his opponent.
The Swiss has survived the qualification in the Bavarian capital with a lot of trouble and hardship. After his 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 against Alexei Watutin, he was supposed to play Riccardo Bonadio, but the Italian withdrew stricken.
The 29-year-old is not even in the top 200 in the world rankings, and his tournaments in 2023 were correspondingly weak. I can’t see any results a la Struff far and wide.
That also applies to the BMW Open, in which he played for the first and so far only time in 2012. 11 years ago his opponents in the qualifying were Valentino Pest and Martin Fischer, so now he is in the main draw of this tournament for the first time.
My Ritschard Struff Tip
From a German perspective, there is absolutely nothing to criticize or complain about with Jan-Lennard Struff right now. The Warsteiner really hurt some top stars in Monte Carlo, and his quarter-final finish means he’s now ranked in the world’s top 65.
His opponent, Alexander Ritschard, cannot keep up at all. Neither in the world ranking list nor in the last tournaments I could gather indications that he can do much on Tuesday. Therefore I decide for the following tip:
We see less than 20.5 games!
