ATP Masters in Indian Wells: Alexander Zverev fails in the round of 16 against Daniil Medvedev

Zverev lost his serve in the first round on Tuesday immediately after an early break, and he only used his fifth set ball. The extremely defensive playing Medvedev, now unbeaten in 17 matches in a row, scolded during the break and spat on the court – it was “a shame” that this slow, soft surface in California passed as a hard court. In addition, the Russian, who won three tournaments this year, struggled with an unusual number of double faults.

Zverev, on the other hand, played more freely in the 3:16 hours than during the almost two and a half hours of torture in the previous round against Emil Ruusuvuori (Finland). With his semi-finals in Dubai, he finally broke his earnings crisis after a long injury break.

In the second set against Medvedev, the rallies became longer, and Zverev missed a total of seven break chances in his opponent’s first two service games alone. Medvedev continued to muddle through the surface and the balls in one go, but surprisingly remained focused between the changes of ends.

But then he twisted his right foot on his own breakball and was treated for minutes, Zverev rushed to help remembering his own injury – and lost the sentence. After that he ran after a break early on, came back and caught the crucial break with a double fault.