2 things that stood out in Jan-Lennard Struff's win over Richard Gasquet in the BOSS Open in Stuttgart

Jan-Lennard Struff beat Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the BOSS Open in Stuttgart on Friday, June 16. The 6-4, 7-5 win keeps the German in contention for his maiden ATP singles title.

Gasquet, 36, could not continue his impressive form after having knocked out top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round. While he did put up a commendable fight, saving three break points in the second set, Struff just about had enough to win the match.

Struff will now face fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the semi-final on Saturday, June 17. It will be a clash between two big servers and the German will fancy his chances of causing an upset on home soil.

On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out from Struff's win over Richard Gasquet.

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#1. Struff served really big in the match

Struff, 33, served really well in the match, giving Gasquet no chance in his returns. He hit 18 aces in the match and won a staggering 91% of the points on his first serve.

Gasquet often had difficulty in returning Struff’s first serve, as the German regularly breached the 200 kmph-mark. He opted for serve-and-volley at times and moved to the forecourt on a few occasions immediately after hitting his serve to dispatch the short balls for winners.

The German got the break of serve in the seventh game of the first set and served it out to draw first blood.

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#2. Gasquet battled hard, but was not good enough during key moments

Gasquet, the World No. 55, did not possess a huge serve like his opponent, but fought well within his limits. Struff played crosscourt backhand slices at times to take the pace off the ball, and thereby, not allow the Frenchman to redirect the ball with his potent backhand.

However, the German managed to pass him a few times as Gasquet ventured forward to the net. Struff got four break points in the second set, but the Frenchman’s resilience kept him in contention until the end.

Struff converted his second break in the 11th game to go 6-5 up and then served the match out. The World No. 24 was slightly better during the key moments and thus prevailed.

Should Struff continue to serve like this against Hurkacz, the Pole will have difficulty dealing with it. One can expect to see a lot of serve-and-volley in the match. However, the home support might turn out to be the key and inspire Struff to cause an upset to reach the final.