Alexander Zverev solved his mandatory task at the Masters in Madrid in an urgent procedure and reached the round of 16. The 26-year-old Olympic champion from Hamburg won his third-round game against French qualifier Hugo Grenier in just 56 minutes 6-1, 6-0.
Now follows a highlight match against the top seeded US Open winner Carlos Alcaraz.
Zverev is not the only German professional in the round of 16. Daniel Altmaier from Kempen defeated Yannick Hanfmann from Karlsruhe 7:6 (7:3), 6:3. The in-form Jan-Lennard Struff also wants to follow suit against the Serb Dusan Lajovic on Monday.
“Today I felt wonderful. In general, I thought it was okay,” said Zverev on “Sky”: “The next match will be a very, very important one. It will be a huge test, I’m looking forward to it.”
Last year, Zverev, tournament winner of 2018 and 2021, lost the final in Madrid against world number two Alcaraz. The 19-year-old Spaniard defeated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 7-5 on Sunday evening.
The German number one was very dominant against Grenier from the start and left no doubt about the winner. The thigh problems that Zverev felt in the second round match against Roberto Carballes Baena had apparently improved.