Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has confidently reached the third round of the high-class ATP Masters in Indian Wells.
The world number six beat the Australian Christopher O’Connell 6:4, 6:4 after 1:57 hours. In the third round, Zverev will now face either compatriot Yannick Hanfmann or the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
“I think the match was solid. It wasn’t the highest level from me, but I can be satisfied. Of course it’s getting more difficult now,” said Zverev.
Zverev greatly improved
After the bye in round one, Zverev showed a concentrated performance against the world number 66 and only made a few mistakes. In the second set, the Hamburg player benefited from his opponent’s too long forehand shot on the first match point and celebrated moving into the next round.
After a successful start to the year including reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne, things have been rather sobering for Zverev at the tournaments in Los Cabos and Acapulco. Now the knot could break again at the tournament, which is endowed with almost twelve million US dollars.