Tennis US Open
Zverev wins the German duel after a tough fight
Status: 31.08.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes
Alexander Zverev now has to face Grigor Dimitrow
Those: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Alexander Zverev has to fight in a duel with Davis Cup buddy Daniel Altmaier at the US Open. With a lot of effort, the Olympic champion reaches round three. He is the last remaining German professional.
Alexander Zverev blew through with relief and patted his Davis Cup buddy Daniel Altmaier on the chest with appreciation. With a lot of effort, the Olympic tennis champion at the US Open won the German duel on Thursday in 3:43 hours 7: 6 (7: 1), 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3 and moved into the third round in. Zverev made numerous mistakes at times, and only in the course of the game did the twelfth place in the world rankings increase.
“All’s well that ends well,” said Boris Becker as an expert at Sportdeutschland.TV. “Sascha Zverev wins the game on the net, I didn’t expect that. Daniel has a great future ahead of him, compliments.” In the round of the top 32, Zverev will face Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow, who defeated British veteran Andy Murray in three sets.
In the early stages, both players did not show a high level. Zverev only turned up the heat from the third set, became significantly more aggressive and showed off his extra class. When the score was 5:3 in the fourth set, a spectator in the stands had a medical emergency – the game was decided a short time later. Zverev had won the previously only duel at the Australian Open 2022 in three sets.
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He is now the last remaining German tennis pro in the individual competitions. As the last of five German players to start, Eva Lys and Tamara Korpatsch were eliminated in the second round. The 21-year-old Lys from Hamburg had several treatments during the game against the Italian Lucia Bronzetti and lost 3:6, 2:6. Korpatsch (28) also had no real chance of winning in the 3: 6, 3: 6 against the number 14 seeded Russian Lyudmila Samsonowa. Both Germans missed the first third round entry in a Grand Slam.
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Zverev’s game took place again on outdoor court 17. After winning the first round, the Hamburg native described the fourth largest stadium in Flushing Meadows as “Snoop Dogg’s living room” in reference to the US rapper – on Thursday the smell of marijuana from the nearby park kept wafting across the square.
Zverev and Altmaier met two hours before the start of the game during training on the pitch. After his unit, Zverev eyed his rival for a few moments – but warming up did not give either opponent security. Numerous inaccuracies characterized the initial phase. Zverev determined the rallies, Altmaier mostly acted on the defensive in long baseline duels. In a break festival, both of them took the serve six times in the first round. At 5: 5, Zverev even conceded the break to zero with a double fault.
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Overall, the Davis Cup teammates made 39 slight mistakes in the opening set alone, Zverev remained more constant in the tie-break and got the passage after a tough 75 minutes. Altmaier had his batting hand treated during the break – but was unimpressed by it. With two breaks, the outsider took the second set. Zverev sat on the bench shaking his head when Altmaier disappeared for the toilet break.
“He seems a bit unfocused to me. He has good phases, but he also has phases where he doesn’t know what the plan was,” analyzed Zverev’s brother Mischa as a TV expert. “I wish he would change direction a little more often.”
The intensity increased, the rallies slowly became more high-class. Zverev continued to miss numerous good opportunities, but was able to use his 21st break ball to make it 5: 4. With his sixth ace, Zverev secured the third set a little later and roared his joy in the direction of his followers with father and trainer Alexander senior and girlfriend Sophia Thomalla in the stands.
Once in motion, the former world number two didn’t let problems with replenishing freshly strung rackets stop him. “I don’t have any more,” Zverev complained to the German referee. With a strong passing ball, he got the break to make it 2-1 in the fourth set. Zverev kept this lead and was able to celebrate after more than three and a half hours.
