Alexander Zverev missed the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters in Monte Carlo despite a race to catch up and suffered a setback at the start of the clay court season with a defeat against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. On the other hand, the exceptional Italian player Jannik Sinner was a bit too strong for Jan-Lennard Struff.
Olympic champion Zverev (Hamburg) lost to his feared opponent on Thursday in his adopted hometown after a disappointing performance at times 5:7, 6:7 (3:7) and is still waiting for his first individual title this season.
At the same time, Zverev’s already negative record against Tsitsipas worsened. The 26-year-old’s five wins against the two-time Grand Slam finalist are now compared to ten defeats. Zverev’s hope that he would quickly find his best form after changing the surface from hard court to clay has not yet been fulfilled.
Experienced Struff defended himself as best he could in the 4:6, 2:6 against Australian Open winner Sinner, but overall he had no chance against the South Tyrolean. The 33-year-old Struff has plenty of world ranking points to defend in the clay court season. In Monte Carlo last year he made it to the quarter-finals, and at the Masters in Madrid he only lost in the final against the Spanish high-flyer Carlos Alcaraz. Struff will hardly be able to maintain 25th place in the ATP ranking.
Zverev, who had won confidently against the Austrian Sebastian Ofner in his first appearance in the Principality, lost control of the game after a concentrated start and four missed breakballs. Tsitsipas then quickly pulled away in the second set against the increasingly frustrated fifth in the world rankings. Zverev fought back impressively again, equalized after being 5-0 down and forced the tiebreak against the Greek – but he finally celebrated after converting the third match point.
2024-04-11 16:38:00
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