Basel, Oct 30 — Jan-Lennard Struff earned one of the biggest victories of his career as the German stunned 102-time tour-level titlist Novak Djokovic to reach the Swiss Indoors Basel quarter-finals.
The 36-year-old, who made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon, played aggressive tennis behind his booming serve to stay on top of Djokovic and take the racquet out of the Serbian’s hands.
He hit 27 aces, including one down the T on match point to seal the 6-7(4), 7-5 7-6(5) win in two hours and 36 minutes. Struff saved all six break points he faced to advance to set a quarter-final clash against Nuno Borges.
"The last serve went in the corner like many balls today. I knew I had to play my best tennis to have a chance. Last eight times he beat me very, very easily. So, very, very happy and pleased with the performance," said Struff.
The loss is a critical blow to Djokovic’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin. Rafael Jodar, the ninth-placed player in the ATP Live Race To Turin, lost earlier in the day, which opened the door for Djokovic to pass him with a title in Basel. But instead, Djokovic trails the Spaniard by 319 points with just the Rolex Paris Masters remaining before the season finale for both men, ATP reports.
Djokovic is tied with Roger Federer for the most qualifications in ATP Finals history with 18.
Later, Swiss wild card Jerome Kym held upset top seed Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(1) in a topsy-turvy second-round clash.
With the win, Kym advanced to his second tour-level quarter-final and became the first Swiss man to earn a Top 10 win since Stan Wawrinka defeated then No. 7 Andrey Rublev in Stockholm in 2024.
He will next face Jiri Lehecka, who earlier in the day defeated Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-4 to book a place in the last eight.