Zverev wins the Erste Bank Open in Vienna 6: 2.7: 5 against the Serb Filip Krajinovic.
Zverev did not stay long with Krajinovic in front of his girlfriend Sophie Thomalla, after a good half an hour the first sentence was in his pocket. After the 1: 1 in the second set, the thread broke with the Olympic champion, suddenly the Hamburger was confronted with a 2: 5 deficit. The world number four turned his displeasure into positive energy, with five game wins in a row he had the game in his pocket after a total of 82 minutes.
“I thought, I can’t play worse than there at 2: 5,” Zverev justified in the “on court” interview when he switched the mental switch. “From 3: 5 I played much better again, a match can turn around quickly.” The 24-year-old clearly enjoyed the support of the audience: “The audience gives the emotions that we need as athletes.” Against the 24-year-old de Minaur, he celebrated his only victory in five duels at the beginning of 2020 at the ATP Cup.
Ruud with a two-set win
The prelude at Center Court on the national holiday was made by Casper Ruud. The five-time ATP tournament winner this year prevailed against South African Lloyd Harris after 105 minutes 7: 5.7: 6 (2). “I am now able to use my chances, most of the important points have worked out in my favor,” said the world number eight after his 50th match win in 2021. The Kitzbühel winner has the chance, like Dominic Thiem in 2019 Austria -Title double to get.
For Ruud, who failed at the start of the previous year against South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner, it was just as much the first Vienna victory as it was for Auger-Aliassime. The 21-year-old number six in the tournament gave the Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis 6: 3.6: 2 the disadvantage, now meets Cameron Norrie. The British Indian Wells winner had the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics under control 7: 6 (4), 6: 1. Ruud, Sinner, Norrie and Auger-Aliassime are contenders for the two remaining places for the ATP finals in November.
The active participants of the Erste Bank Open can look forward to a prize money increase to at least just over 1.95 million euros, the total amount now amounts to around 2.09 million euros. The tournament winner is currently 275,074 euros. The change is possible through an exception rule that is valid during the Corona period, according to which the prize money can be made dependent on the audience capacity. 6,000 spectators came to the town hall on Tuesday, 1,000 to the side court on Heumarkt.
