Tennis professional Alexander Zverev prevented the next early setback with a show of strength. The 25-year-old Olympic champion won the ATP tournament in his adopted home of Monte Carlo in the first round 3: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4 against Kazakh Alexander Bublik.
After a wild ups and downs for both players, Zverev used his third match ball after two hours and celebrated a successful start to the clay court season. In the second set, the German number one experienced a moment of shock when he stumbled and fell – unlike at the French Open last year, he was uninjured. In the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament, Zverev is now up against 34-year-old Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.
“Felt terrible at times”
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Zverev on the pitch after the game. “It felt awful at times to be honest. He never let me play my game and get into my rhythm.”
At the Masters in Miami, Zverev failed early in his opening match in the second round. For the former world number two, it remains a difficult way back to old form a month and a half before the French Open. At the previous edition of the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, Zverev seriously injured his ankle. “I had two weeks of training and other issues in my body apart from the ankle,” he said.
Zverev repeatedly showed brilliant moments against Bublik, but, as was the case recently, he was not able to prove this level over the entire duration of the game. However, Bublik acted inconsistently as usual and made a total of ten double errors.
Zverev emphasized that he was still going into the clay court season with big goals. He is not 40 years old. “I’m still relatively young enough to come back and play my best tennis again.”
draw
