11:54
Sonego in Dubai
Sonego is also only serving in Dubai for the second time. When he first took part in 2021, it was over in the round of 16. This week, the right-hander celebrated two-set victories against the Swiss Marc-Andrea Hüsler and the 4th seeded Félix Auger-Aliassime.
11:45
sonego
Sonego has already contested a quarterfinal in this young season, failed at the 250cc in Montpellier at Jannik Sinner. This was followed by opening defeats in Rotterdam and Doha. At the latter tournament, Andy Murray set the stop sign, as did Zverev. The Italian is number 67 in the world, but two years ago he was 21. The 27-year-old has won three tournaments – without exception at 250cc events, most recently in September in Metz.
11:36
Zverev in Dubai
Zverev has not slipped that far in the world rankings yet. The former number 2 is currently in position 16 and thus mostly makes it into the seed lists of the tournaments. In Dubai, the Olympic champion is seeded 7th. In his second participation after 2015 (loss in the opening game) he won against Jiří Lehečka (4:6, 6:3, 6:4) and Christopher O’Connell (7:5, 6:4). In doubles, like last time in Qatar, there was a defeat right at the start. At least that provided additional game practice.
11:26
The long way back
For the first time since his comeback after the injury at last year’s French Open, Zverev has won two matches in a row and thus reached a quarter-finals. So the shape curve rises gradually. But the example of Dominic Thiem shows how difficult it can be to get back to the old class after a long break. The Lower Austrian has been playing regularly again for a year, has reached three semi-finals, but is still far from stable form and the former world class and is currently struggling on the clay courts in South America without really getting going.
11:16
Welcome
Welcome to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships! At the ATP 500 tournament in the United Arab Emirates, the quarterfinals are on the program today. Alexander Zverev is also involved, who will face Lorenzo Sonego at 12:00 p.m. CET.