Struff needs 10 match points to beat Darderi at Halle Open

Halle (Germany), Jun 19 (AP) 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 on Wednesday.

Struff, who hit 21 aces, was a breakdown 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 tie-breaker.

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. (AP) AYG