Alexander Zverev is in the round of 16 at the tennis tournament in his adopted home of Monte Carlo.
After a bye in the first round, the 24-year-old from Hamburg defeated Argentinian Federico Delbonis 6-1, 7-5 in the second round on Wednesday and still has every chance of winning the tournament in the Principality.
He used his third match point to win in the evening, which cost him some effort in the second set.
“Everything can’t always go perfectly in the first match. I’m glad I won. I just want to win matches,” said Olympic champion Zverev on “Sky”.
After the surprisingly early departure of world number one Novak Djokovic, he is the highest-ranked player in the field. Djokovic had already failed the day before in the clay court tournament due to the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Alexander Zverev praises next opponent
In the fight for a place in the quarter-finals, Zverev now meets the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta in the Masters 1000 tournament, which is worth around 5.2 million euros. “He’s a very, very good clay court player,” said Zverev about the next opponent.
Zverev was last eliminated in Miami in the quarterfinals and suffered another disappointment on hard court in the USA.
For the best German tennis player, the Montpellier final is the only final this year so far. The highlight of the clay court season is the French Open. The Grand Slam tournament in Paris begins on May 22nd.