Struff is also continuing Zverev’s strange series also survives a night shift
April 29, 2024, 6:04 a.m
The best German tennis professionals are marching together into the round of 16 of the ATP tournament in Madrid. While Jan-Lennard Struff gets off work early, Alexander Zverev has to wait forever until he can finally do his job. But he does so successfully, almost as expected.
Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev reached the round of 16 of the ATP Masters in Madrid on a night shift. The world number five from Hamburg defeated the Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6:4, 7:5 well after midnight and will now face the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo in the round of 16.
Zverev, a two-time tournament winner in the Spanish capital, had to wait until 11 p.m. for his match against the 132nd in the world rankings. In a tough game, which the Hamburg player always dominated, Zverev used his second match point after 1:44 hours of play to win and secure his fourth round of 16 appearance in Madrid in a row.
With the win, the 27-year-old also continued an impressive streak: the German has not lost any of his last 17 matches against a left-hander. “My brother Mischa is left-handed, so I grew up with one,” Zverev said after the win. “We trained together every day. I think that’s the main reason.”
The last match that Zverev lost against a left-hander was the traumatic semi-final of the 2022 French Open: The German put up a big fight against Rafael Nadal before he twisted his ankle after around three hours at the end of the second set and seriously injured his right ankle. In his comeback year in 2023, he had not lost any of his eleven matches against a left-hander.
Before fourth-seeded Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff also secured his ticket to the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 tournament on clay on Sunday. A week after his first title on the ATP tour in Munich, the 34-year-old from Sauerland won 7:5, 6:4 against Frenchman Ugo Humbert.
Struff showed a convincing performance and used his second match point for success with a forehand after 1:37 hours. The veteran scored 34 direct winning strokes with only 18 slight errors against Humbert, who was number 13. The next opponent is now Spain’s star Carlos Alcaraz.
Daniel Altmaier, however, was eliminated in the third round. The Davis Cup player lost against number eight seeded Poland Hubert Hurkacz 4:6, 6:7 (2:7).
2024-04-29 04:04:00
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