Tennis Olympic champion Alexander Zverev made it through to the round of 16 at the ATP Masters in Indian Wells with a mixed performance early on Monday morning (03/13/23, CET). The Hamburger defeated the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in California after 162 minutes of play 7: 5, 1: 6, 7: 5 and is in the round of 16 in the first part of the “Sunshine Double” for the third time in his career.
Zverev, the only remaining German professional in the main draw, now meets top Russian players Daniil Medvedev or Ilja Ivashka from Belarus. Zverev grabbed a hard-fought first set with a break when the score was 5: 5. In the second round, however, the level of the German dropped significantly. Mistakes followed mistakes, Ruusuvuori effortlessly forced the deciding set. But then the Hamburger secured it.
Before that, another top player, Casper Ruud, number three on the seeding list, said goodbye to the Masters early on. The Norwegian surprisingly lost against the unseeded Chilean Christian Garin 4: 6, 6: 7 (2: 7). Even before that, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas had eliminated a player from the top five.