Spectators rose to their feet as Oscar Otte left the court in the sweltering Halle afternoon heat.
The tennis pro from Cologne had risen to become the crowd favorite at the Westphalian lawn tournament with a tremendous performance - but the world number one Daniil Medvedev was a size too big in the semifinals.
Otte lost to the top star from Russia 6:7 (3:7), 3:6 and must therefore continue to wait for his first appearance in the final.
"I had my chances.
Today as well.
But you have to use it against the number one, otherwise it won't work," said Otte on ZDF, the disappointment of the 28-year-old still prevailed.
But: "It was super fun here in front of 11,000 fans, the tournament was another step in the right direction."
At temperatures above 30 degrees, Medvedev converted his first match point after 1:37 hours and avoided another Halle defeat against a German outsider.
In 2021, the US Open winner lost to Jan-Lennard Struff in round one.
Otte, who has never defeated a top ten player, missed a set ball in the first round when the score was 5:4.
In the second set, Medvedev's break was crucial to make it 4-2.
Otte, currently number 51 in the world, will be at least 38th in the world rankings next week.
and thus higher than ever.
In the semifinals, the hardships of the quarterfinals against Karen Khachanov (4:6, 7:6, 6:4) were initially not noticeable.
In the first set, the match had to be interrupted for a few minutes due to technical problems after Otte's hard serve broke the net attachment.
Otte didn't let that faze him, he took the serve from Medvedev to make it 5:3, but had to go into the tie-break, which he then lost.
The final victory in Halle, a traditional endurance test for the Wimbledon tournament that begins on June 27 this year, has gone to a German professional seven times since the premiere in 1993.
Florian Mayer was last successful in 2016.