Alexander Zverev had a lot of trouble in his second round match at the US Open against Daniel Altmaier. The last two German women are eliminated.
Alexander Zverev looked up into the bright New York sky, blew deeply and then, visibly relieved, clapped his stubborn opponent Daniel Altmaier. With an unexpected show of strength in the German duel, Germany’s tennis star moved into the third round of the US Open – but Olympic champion Zverev has to improve enormously for a big coup.
The 26-year-old struggled for 3:43 hours with the world number 53, who was two years his junior. from Kempen, who played big at times. Then Zverev converted his first match ball to 7: 6 (7: 1), 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3 and moved in from Flushing Meadows for the fifth time in round three.
There the Olympic champion meets the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrow, the 32-year-old former ATP Finals champion won in a duel between two prominent routines 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 1 against the two-time Wimbledon winner Andy Murray (36 / Great Britain) , who triumphed in New York in 2012. In the round of 16, the world ranking sixth Jannik Sinner from Italy, who easily defeated compatriot Lorenzo Sonego on Thursday, could be the first really big chunk.
DTB women worse than they have in a long time
Meanwhile, the German women in New York did worse than they had in 14 years. The Hamburg women Eva Lys and Tamara Korpatsch were the last to say goodbye in round two on Thursday. Qualifier Lys lost to the Italian Lucia Bronzetti 3:6, 2:6, Korpatsch lost to number 14 seeded Lyudmila Samsonowa 3:6, 3:6. A third round without a German player was last seen at the US Open in 2009.
Zverev and Altmaier started nervously in the early shift on Court 17, which seats 2,800 spectators – the game started at 11:30 a.m. local time – and each gave up their serve three times until 5:5. Only in the tie-break did Zverev, who had won the only direct duel in the first round of the Australian Open 2022 without losing a set, play through with concentration and get the first round after 75 minutes.
In the opening match against the Australian Aleksandar Vukovic (6: 4, 6: 4, 6: 4), which was also held on Court 17, the German number one complained about the penetrating smell of marijuana (“The whole court smells of weed”), this time it remained apparently odorless. But Zverev did not find a clear line in the second set either.
Altmaier broke to 3:2 and finally to 6:3. Zverev seemed dissatisfied. “He hasn’t found his game yet,” said Boris Becker on sportdeutschland.tv. Former US Open champion Becker (1989) subsequently saw former US Open finalist Zverev (2020) with more trouble than expected. In the third set, however, the Olympic champion became more emotional and let out a “Come on!” out and showed his fist. Zverev used his 21st (!) Breakball for the fourth break and 5: 4.
Altmaier, who had only been in round two of a Grand Slam tournament twice before, also kept the fourth round open. Zverev took a 2-1 lead with breakball 25 – only then did he act with the hoped-for ease.