Struff beats Djokovic at ninth attempt to dent Serb's Turin hopes

Eight meetings, eight defeats, one set won. That was Jan-Lennard Struff's record against Novak Djokovic before Thursday. In the ninth, the 36-year-old German finally broke through, beating the fourth seed 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-6(5) in two hours and 36 minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors in Basel.

It was a result built on serve. Struff hammered 27 aces, the last of them down the T on his third match point, and saved all six break points he faced against one of the best returners the sport has known.

From one tie-break lost to one won

The opening set followed a familiar script. Neither man dropped serve, and Djokovic edged the tie-break 7-4. But Struff stayed with his aggressive game plan and was rewarded late in the second set, breaking at 6-5 to level the match – only the second set he has ever taken off the Serbian.

The decider was tense and stayed on serve, with Djokovic visibly frustrated at times and in conversation with coach Viktor Troicki. Struff kept his nerve in the tie-break, took it 7-5 and sealed the win with one more ace.

"I knew I needed to go for it. There was only one way to play it," Struff said afterwards, adding that he was "very happy" with how he had kept the pressure on.

The win extends a strong fortnight for the player from Warstein. Last week he reached the final in Brussels, losing to Tallon Griekspoor, and he opened his Basel campaign with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Davis Cup teammate Yannick Hanfmann.

Turin slipping away for Djokovic

For Djokovic, the defeat is a heavy blow. The 39-year-old had accepted a wild card for his first Basel appearance since 2011 specifically to chase a place at the Nitto ATP Finals. According to the ATP, he now trails ninth-placed Rafael Jódar by 319 points in the race, with only the Rolex Paris Masters left before the season finale in Turin.

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Jódar himself lost in Basel on Thursday, beaten 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(5) by Valentin Vacherot, so the gap did not grow further – but Djokovic will need a deep run in Paris to have any chance of overturning it.

Borges next for Struff

Struff will meet Portugal's Nuno Borges in the quarter-finals. It was a day of upsets at St. Jakobshalle: Swiss wild card Jérôme Kym knocked out top seed Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(1) in a match that finished after midnight, while second seed Arthur Fils needed a final-set tie-break to see off Alex Michelsen 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5). Taylor Fritz beat Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-3, and Jiří Lehečka defeated Daniel Altmaier 7-5, 6-4.

With Djokovic and top seed Shelton both out, Struff is one win from the semi-finals and two from a second consecutive final, after falling one match short of a title in Brussels last Sunday.