Germany’s tennis star Alexander Zverev reached the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters in Cincinnati after an unusual working day. His round of 16 Karen Chasthanow had to give up in the second set at 7: 5, 3-0 for Zverev.
In the hard court tournament in Cincinnati, endowed with a total of around $ 9.2 million (around 7.9 million euros), Zverev now gets it to deal with the American Ben Shelton or the Czech Jiri Lehecka either. Afterwards a duel with top star Carlos Alcaraz could wait.
Chatschafhanow, Zverev’s opponent in the round of 16, signaled after 70 minutes that he could no longer continue playing and waved apologetically into the audience.
“All the best for Karen, he is in the form of his life and I hope it is nothing serious. Hopefully it is only a little tiredness. If he comes back, he can expect the US Open”said Zverev, who had been satisfied with his own performance until then. “I played a lot more aggressive.”
Zverev rose strongly as usual, made only a few mistakes and also presented himself courageously and aggressively. Again and again he searched the path to the net and had great success.
Most recently, the two had only faced each other in the semi -finals in the Masters in Toronto last week, the Russian had hit Zverev against themselves despite a match ball.
Two victories in one day
For Zverev it was the second shortened assignment that day. His third-round match against the American Brandon Nakashima had been interrupted the evening before because of a thunderstorm at 6: 4, 5: 4 and the Zverev serve and continued in the morning. Zverev only took four minutes to get the lack of points to win, and then went back to the pitch against Chasthanow on Thursday evening.
“It is never nice to end the game at 5: 4 when you hit the match”said Zverev. “But I said to myself, my opponent is in a worse situation. And so it was a good day at work, two victories in one day.”
General rehearsal for the US Open – Night start for Zverev on the Grand Slam title
For Zverev, the appearance in Cincinnati is the dress rehearsal for the US Open, at the last Grand Slam of the year, which begins on August 24 in New York, the 28-year-old wants to play for the title. In Cincinnati, Zverev reached the semi -finals in the past two years, and in 2021 he won the title.