Tennis
Zverev pushes through: advances to the round of 16 in Paris
Three days after narrowly losing the final in Vienna, Alexander Zverev is once again in full demand at the tournament in Paris. But the defending champion wins, as does Daniel Altmaier.
Defending champion Alexander Zverev survived his opening match at the Tennis Masters tournament in Paris with great difficulty. After a bye in the first round, Zverev won 6:7 (5:7), 6:1, 7:5 against outsider Camilo Ugo Carabelli from Argentina. From a German perspective, Daniel Altmeier is also in the round of 16.
Three days after his narrow final defeat at the tournament in Vienna against Jannik Sinner, Zverev made too many mistakes at the beginning of his opponent’s serve. However, both players were unable to gain a break point in the entire first round, and after 57 minutes Zverev had to admit defeat in the tiebreak.
Zverev braces himself against the defeat
The surface in the Paris Hall is “unfortunately very, very slow,” Zverev said before the game on Sky. “I’m not a fan of it.” But the Hamburger started the second set more aggressively, taking his opponent’s serve straight away to take a 2-0 lead.
Zverev quickly won the second set, but in the decisive round against the strong world number 49. he fell behind 1:3. The 26-year-old forced Zverev into long rallies and repeatedly took the initiative himself with changes in tempo and rhythm.
However, the world number three fought against the threat of elimination and immediately took away Ugo Carabelli’s serve. Zverev repeatedly scored points at the net after good serves. A volley stopball gave him the break to 6:5, and after 2:35 hours the hard-earned victory was perfect. The next opponent is the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday.
Altmaier surprises Ruud
Daniel Altmaier had previously reached the round of the best 16. The 27-year-old surprisingly defeated world number nine Casper Ruud from Norway 6:3, 7:5. Altmaier showed a strong performance, but only had difficulty taking advantage of his chances towards the end of the match. “You play against yourself in the end, everyone who plays tennis knows that,” he said. Altmaier now meets Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime.
dpa
