In a historic night shift, the 24-year-old made the first step in his mission to defend his title in Acapulco. At 4.54 a.m. local time, the German number one made it into the round of 16 with a hard-fought 3: 6, 7: 6 (12:10), 6: 2 first round win against the American Jenson Brooksby – no match at tour level was that late ended.
In the second set, Zverev even fended off two match points against the 21-year-old US boy before he finally won the match after 3:20 hours. Zverev won the tournament in Mexico last year.
Oscar Otte already eliminated
In the second round, Zverev now meets Peter Gojowczyk. The 32-year-old from Munich defeated American Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4 on Monday (local time). The world number 95. Gojowczyk was actually eliminated in qualifying for the $1.8 million tournament, but slipped as a result lucky loser into the main field.
For qualifier Oscar Otte, however, the tournament is over. The Cologne, the for the Davis Cup is nominated, lost to the eighth seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 2:6, 4:6.
Source: dpa/sid