Despite a break deficit in both sets, the 24-year-old Olympic champion prevailed 6: 2, 7: 5 against the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta. At 5: 4 in the second set, Zverev missed two chances when Carreño Busta served to win the round of 16. With a net attack he then used his fourth match point at 6:5.
In the quarterfinals against Rublev or Sinner
In the match for the semi-finals in the Masters 1000 clay court tournament, which is worth around 5.2 million euros, Zverev is now up against the Russian professional Andrei Rubljow or the South Tyrolean Jannik Sinner.
Against the world number 19. Carreño Busta lost Zverev his first service game in both sets to make it 0-1, but made up for the deficit in each case. With four game wins in a row, the number three in the world laid the basis for winning the first set. In the second period, Hamburg equalized again to make it 3:3.
Djokovic failed in round one
In his opening match in his adopted country, Zverev held his own against Argentinian Federico Delbonis 6: 1, 7: 5. In the first round he had a bye as number two on the seeding list. Because the Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic left surprisingly early, Zverev is the highest-ranked player in the field. In Monte Carlo he is hoping for his second final of the year.
Source: dpa