Alexander Zverev was eliminated on Friday (October 27th, 2023) after a botched start in the quarter-finals in Vienna against his tennis friend Andrej Rublev.
The 2021 Tokyo Olympic champion lost the duel with the Russian fifth in the world rankings 1:6, 7:6 (7:5), 3:6. After two and a half hours, the 26-year-old from Hamburg suffered a defeat against Rublev in the third match this year and had to congratulate his opponent on reaching the semi-finals. Two years ago, Zverev celebrated winning the tournament in Vienna.
Bad start from Zverev
Despite the defeat, Zverev is currently in a decent starting position for his desired participation in the ATP Finals as seventh. The ATP Finals in Turin start on November 12th. The last free places will be awarded next week at the Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy.
Zverev, tenth in the world rankings, did not get off to a good start against Rublev, who is the same age and has secured his qualification for Turin, and repeatedly came under heavy pressure in the baseline duels.
In the second round, Zverev smashed his racket onto the hall floor when a backhand went too long at 2-2. A little later he had to fend off another breakball, but remained in the lead. Zverev came into the game much better. In the tiebreak he turned a 0:3 deficit into a 7:5. However, the set equalization did not give Zverev any security. He immediately lost his serve again and was quickly significantly behind.
At 1:4, Zverev took out his frustration on his racket again. He fought, but couldn’t take advantage of his chances to make the good match exciting again in the end.