Tennis: Krawietz/Pütz narrowly miss the semi-finals at the French Open

Kevin Krawietz, professional tennis player from Coburg, could not realise his dream of a third doubles victory at the French Open. Together with his partner Tim Pütz from Frankfurt, he had to admit defeat to the Croatian-American duo Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek with 1:2 after a nerve-racking match of over three hours.

Right from the start, the two top teams fought an exciting duel on equal terms. The first set lasted one hour and 14 minutes and was characterised by intense rallies. Although Krawietz and Pütz were able to fend off two set points from their opponents, Dodig and Krajicek managed to win the set in a tiebreak with 8:6.

It remained close in the following sets as well. Both teams were able to serve well until Krawietz and Pütz had to fend off a break point at 4:4. Nevertheless, they managed to take a 7:5 lead and win the set. In the decisive third set, Krawietz and Pütz started with a lost service game. Although they fought again and managed to prevent another service loss, Dodig and Krajicek finally prevailed and won the match 2:1.

Dodig and Krajicek will now face Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, who surprisingly defeated top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, in the semi-finals. Tim Pütz also still has a chance to win the title in the mixed competition as he reached the semi-finals with his partner Miyu Kato from Japan.