Top favorite Alexander Zverev was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the ATP tennis tournament in Munich. The world number five lost to the Chilean Cristian Garin 4:6, 4:6 and, as in previous years, experienced disappointment at the BMW Open.
In cold, wet conditions and drizzle, the Olympic champion couldn’t find a cure against the South American, who played variably and fought courageously, one day before his 27th birthday. He also repeatedly complained loudly about the slippery ash surface.
“It’s impossible for me to win in weather like this,” said Zverev. He explained that his actual strengths – such as the serve or the backhand – were defused in rain and cold. “I tried everything and tried a lot of things. But in these conditions I don’t have any weapons with which I can win here.” He paid tribute to Garin and admitted: “He deserved to win.”
Meanwhile, Davis Cup teammate Jan-Lennard Struff has to serve detention. His quarter-final against the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime was canceled in the evening due to darkness when the score was 7:5, 3:1 from the Warsteiner’s point of view. The game is scheduled to continue on Saturday morning. The winner will then face last year’s winner Holger Rune later on the same day. The Dane beat Marc-Andrea Hülser from Switzerland 6:4, 7:6 (7:3).
Ranting Zverev wants an interruption
All day long the wind blew the rain over the facility on Aumeisterweg, and Zverev had a hard time against Garin, number 106 in the world: the Hamburg native was heard complaining again and again. The Chilean beat Zverev’s Davis Cup colleague Dominik Koepfer in the first round. Against the number one seed, Garin was constantly successful with unnerving stop balls on the damp surface.
In the second round, Zverev had heated discussions with the referee and the ATP supervisor because, to the German’s chagrin, they did not interrupt the game despite the rain. “It’s been raining non-stop for three and a half hours. I’m sliding back and forth here. When are you going to do something?” he told the referee during a break. After exactly 2:00 hours his defeat was clear.
Garin will face Taylor Fritz in the semifinals. The number three seeded American won his quarterfinals 4:6, 6:3, 7:6 (7:1) against Briton Jack Draper.
