The sun was almost up again when Alexander Zverev finally made it into the second round in Acapulco, Mexico. At 4.55 a.m. local time, the Olympic champion converted his first match point against the American Jenson Brooksby early on Tuesday morning (February 22nd, 2022) – there has never been a match on the ATP tour ended a match later. The previous record was held by Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus, who won the 2008 at the Australian Open in Melbourne stood on the pitch until 4:34 a.m. local time.
In Acapulco, after 3:20 hours of play, it was 3: 6, 7: 6 (12:10), 6: 2 for Zverev, who was able to win the top-ranked tournament last year. After his converted match point, Zverev pointed to both his legs and looked at his team in the stands, where his physiotherapist Hugo Gravil was also marked by the marathon game. Even if I’m still not playing my best tennis – I’m fit, Zverev’s gesture should mean.
Oscar Otte already eliminated
In the second round, the 24-year-old 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 into the main draw as a lucky loser. For qualifier Oscar Otte, however, the tournament is over. The Cologne, the for the Davis Cup is nominated, lost against the eighth seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta 2:6, 4:6.
Zverev initially showed a poor performance against Brooksby. The German number one made 19 slight mistakes in the first set. The late start of the encounter didn’t seem to suit him at first. In the period that followed, Zverev often acted far too passively against the 21-year-old US boy. But at least he discovered his big heart as a fighter. Zverev fended off two match balls from Brooksby, who played carelessly, in the tie-break of the second round before he used the fifth set ball himself. The second section alone lasted 111 minutes. The American’s resistance was now broken, Zverev confidently won the third set and turned around another sporting disappointment after the round of 16 Australian Open away.
Source: dpa