Alexander Zverev fails early – worries about French Open

Shortly before the French Open

Zverev fails early at the home tournament in Hamburg

In Hamburg, Alexander Zverev wanted to collect confidence for the French Open. But he fails surprisingly early in his home tournament.

Alexander Zverev failed the dress rehearsal for the French Open. At the home tournament in Hamburg, the local hero failed on Wednesday on the Frenchman Alexandre Muller 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 7 (5: 7) and missed the move into the quarter -finals. With this defeat, Zverev travels to Paris, where the French Open begins on Sunday.

Zverev did not come into play right from the start. The 28-year-old worked energy-free and struggled with the conditions. Again and again the sand blew into his face, the wind made the game more difficult. After 34 minutes he lost the first set and looked at his team at the stands at a loss.

In the second round, Zverev started, took off his opponent directly and led 3-0. But security did not last long: Muller brought back the break, at the 4: 4 was Zverev shortly before the loss of service. He struggled with three break balls and made the sentence compensation a little later.

But instead of security, this only brought relief. The decision set became a nerve thriller. Zverev made a serious mistake in the Tiebreak. The 28-year-old showed a driving performance and lost after 2:40 hours. The Hamburg Open continues without German participation. Youngster Justin Engel had already left the round of 16.

Germany’s youth hopes had defeated Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round and celebrated his second victory on the ATP tour. Against Andrey Rublev, Engel led 5: 4 in the second set, but awarded a set ball. He said goodbye to the audience at 3: 6, 5: 7.

Boris Becker watched the events from the stands. “He has a good environment, with Philipp Kohlschreiber an absolute expert as a trainer,” said the tennis legend. “The next few years will now show how much he really wants,” said the three -time Wimbledon winner.