Olympic champion Alexander Zverev has reported back with a sovereign victory on the ATP tour. At the Masters in Cincinnati, the Hamburger won his opening match against South African Lloyd Harris 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 2 and will now face Argentine Guido Pella in the round of 16. In the first round, Zverev had a bye.
At the first appearance since winning the gold medal at the Olympic tournament in Tokyo, Zverev hardly needed any start-up time. In the duel with the equally strong Harris, he prevailed in the first set in the tie-break, in the second half he got two breaks early – the 24-year-old didn’t give up this advantage until the match point and thus celebrated his first win in Cincinnati.
After Olympic gold and victory at the 2018 ATP season finale, Zverev’s main goal is triumph in a Grand Slam tournament. At the US Open (August 30th to September 12th) he is one of the favorites, in 2020 he failed in the final there against Dominic Thiem from Austria. However, Thiem will not be there in New York, nor will the injured Swiss Roger Federer. There is also a big question mark behind the start of the Grand Slam record champion Rafael Nadal – the Spaniard is plagued by a stubborn foot injury.
Meanwhile, Dominik Koepfer retired in Cincinnati in the second round. Koepfer (Furtwangen), who moved up as the “Lucky Loser” and who had eliminated Warsteiner Jan-Lennard Struff at the beginning, lost to Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain / No. 7) 4: 6, 2: 6 on Wednesday.