Alexander Zverev cleared his opening hurdle at the ATP tournament in Vienna despite a serious drop in performance. Germany’s best tennis professional beat Scottish qualifier Jacob Fearnley 6:4, 1:6, 7:6 (7:5) on Tuesday – in the second set the match against the world number 81 threatened to slip away completely.
Zverev, who is going through difficult weeks in terms of sport, got through the first set appropriately. However, things changed completely in the second round.
Zverev allowed himself to be pushed into the defensive and was hardly able to develop any pressure, on the contrary – Fearnley dictated the rallies at will in this phase. After 20 minutes of the second set it was 0:5, after 28 minutes the Scot converted the set point.
Victory in the tie break
In the decisive round, both of them presented themselves stable in the service, Zverev missed the chance for the decisive break when the score was 5:4 – but then made the match win clear after 2:19 hours in the tie break.
The world number three will now face Italian Matteo Arnaldi, who also had to qualify, in the round of 16 in Vienna. The second German in the tournament is Daniel Altmaier, who will be facing world number one Jannik Sinner (Italy) at the start.
Zverev plagues Back pain
Zverev was number two in the world at the beginning of the year and was targeting the top position at the time, but now the main thing is to secure third place – and get his body back in shape with a view to the new season. He’s been suffering from back pain for a while now.
Lots of games until the end of the year
Nevertheless, he wants to make his comeback in the German Davis Cup team, which will face Argentina in the quarter-finals in Bologna (November 18th to 23rd). After the tournament in Vienna, the Masters in Paris is also on the agenda, where he will start as defending champion.
In all likelihood, Zverev will also take part in the ATP season finale in Turin (November 9th to 16th).