The wondrous journey of Oscar Otte goes on in Halle. The man from Cologne beat Karen Khachanov 4:6; 7:6 and 6:4 in a dramatic 3-set match – and is now through to the semi-finals for the first time in his career at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. Otte was carried by the fans in the OWL Arena and turned around a match for the second time in 24 hours after falling behind a set. He had beaten Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili in three sets on Thursday.
The more than 10.000 spectators on the Centre Court cheered every point and every set won by their favourite, the atmosphere was like in a soccer stadium in parts. “Let’s go, Otte“, the crowd shouted when the 28-year-old, who will at least reach the number 36 (from 51) on Monday, got good shots. It seemed as loud as if Germany had got a decider goal in World Championship finals. “The crowd pushes me enormously. It just is so much fun, playing in front of so many spectators”, Otte said, who also was really in need of being cheered on.
He hadn’t really been able to recover that well from the match against Basilashvili. “I didn’t sleep that well and didn’t really feel fit. Against Khachanov I used up the last bit of energy to win“. At the beginning of the third set Otte had to be treated; he was suffering from neck and shoulder problems. “The tablet helped quickly“, the German player explained. In the following service game Otte had to fender off three break points, at a score of 2:2 he converted his first (and only) breakpoint in the whole of the match to make it 3:2. That was the preliminary decision. Otte had to fender off further two break chances by the 26-year-old Khachanov (ATP 23) at 5:4, but he converted the first match point for the quarterfinals triumph. “The Big Points were the deciders today, and I did them”, Otte said.
Oscar Otte’s balance on the grass is getting better and better; he played in the semi-finals in Stuttgart last week and only just lost to Matteo Berrettini (6:7, 6:7). Now he is again in the round of the last four – he has won six matches on the surface and lost only two in his career. And now he is taking course for his first final on the ATP-Tour.
Karen Khachanov had the chance to play his second semi-finals in Halle since 2017. Up till now, he has played six finals on the Tour, all on hard courts. He wom the tournaments four times. He now must further await taking part in a final on grass.
