4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 2:4 – There are whistles from the audience: Zverev says Menšík’s serve landed out of bounds. Chair referee James Keothavong comes down – and passes the ball well. The German doesn’t want to believe it. But I just have to keep playing. Once again it’s a tie. Menšík remains aggressive, goes for it, Zverev makes a backhand mistake and the Czech shortens again.
4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 1:4 – That doesn’t exist! Zverev comes forward, wants to apply pressure with a volley – and is surprised by a Mensik net roller that he can no longer bring back. But he can rely on his backhand; time and again he catches the Czech on the wrong foot with this shot. With another service winner, Zverev makes it 4:1.
4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 1:3 – Big drama now. Menšík fights against the next break and defends himself fiercely. He fends off two break chances from Zverev, then puts a serve right on the line, comes to the net and finishes with a volley. That was very close for the Czech, who didn’t give up.
4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 0:3 – Zverev now seems to have taken away the momentum from the third set from his opponent. It tries its own offensive, comes to the net and concentrates on making it 3-0.
4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 0:2 – It goes back and forth now. Zverev takes the serve from his opponent right in his peak phase, strong at this point! Hamburg was already 30:40 behind, but then Menšík wanted too much and put a stop in the net. Tie. Zverev then forces the next backhand error and has break ball. He uses this directly because he forces his opponent to make the next mistake with a great forehand return. Very strong.
4th set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3, 0:1 – Good thing: Zverev gets his service through at the beginning of the fourth set without any problems.
3rd set, 5:7, 2:6, 6:3 – Jakub Menšík took this third set in just 38 minutes. The medical timeout apparently worked wonders for the Czech. He took control of this round, played exhilaratingly again at times and caught his opponent, who had so far dominated the game, cold. Symptomatic: A rally over 17 (!) strokes at 40:0, which Menšík concludes in style with a stop. The audience goes wild. He only made four unforced errors (Zverev, on the other hand, eleven), he hit eight winners and thus fully deserved to secure this set. Now it gets exciting: How does Zverev react?