NAfter the spectacular match point won in the tie-break, Alexander Zverev spread his arms and looked satisfied into the second largest tennis stadium in the world. The point secured the Olympic tennis champion’s first win against former world number one Andy Murray and the round of 16 at the Masters in Indian Wells.
The 24-year-old from Hamburg scored 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 4) against the British on Tuesday (local time) and now has at least one career win against each of the so-called Big Four – including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Murray, who won two Olympic golds himself in 2012 and 2016. “Nice feeling,” said Zverev. “I think it was a pretty entertaining match on a high level.”
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The 24-year-old has lived up to his role as a co-favorite for the title at the last Masters of the year. Next up is the hard court tournament worth 8.76 million US dollars against the French Gael Monfils. “I feel good on the pitch. I play well and feel good and I hope it continues like this, ”said Zverev.
Kerber is in the quarterfinals
Angelique Kerber is also having fun again after difficult months – and is suddenly a hot contender herself for the title at the tournament in which she was in the final of the last edition before Corona. The 33-year-old scored 6: 4, 6: 1 against Ajla Tomljanovic from Australia in the round of 16 and is the highest seeded player of the tournament in southern California before the quarter-finals against Paula Badosa from Spain.
“I don’t think I was the top favorite at the beginning of the tournament and I don’t think about the fact that I’m the top favorite of the tournament here,” said Kerber, who was in tenth place, of the German press agency. “For me it is important that I continue to do my things consistently and continue to concentrate on the next round.” At first she did an excellent job against Tomljanovic, but then the first set became unnecessarily exciting – with a better ending for Kerber nonetheless. “For me it is important to play good tennis again and have fun on the court.”
The former number one in the world rankings didn’t want to waste any thought on the WTA Finals and possible last-minute participation. “I think I really have to play to the end here and win a few more matches,” she said. “The finals are still far, far away. If I can do it, I’ll do it – but I still have to play well for that. ”Zverev has already safely qualified for the ATP Finals since winning the start in Indian Wells.
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