Alexander Zverev

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[Kamileki]

[Damian]

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Serving With Sizzle, Zverev Races Into US Open R3

Spoiler:

German hasn't faced a break point this tournament
Alexander Zverev continues to shape up as the man most likely to disrupt Novak Djokovic’s quest for the Grand Slam at the US Open after powering into the third round Thursday with a crushing 6-1, 6-0 6-3 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

The World No. 4 has been dominant on serve this week, not offering a single break point opportunity to Sam Querrey in the first round nor left-handed Ramos-Vinolas in today’s rout, which lasted just 74 minutes. He has dropped just eight points on his first serve through six sets.

“My serve is kind of the key to my game,” Zverev said. “When it's working I'm playing great. When it's not, I'm losing matches like I did at Wimbledon… It's no secret that my serve is probably the most important shot in my game, and I'm happy with how it's working… The matches are not going to get easier and I will need that to be my weapon.

”I think it was always a problem of mine in the beginning of my career that I always spent a lot of hours, a lot of time in the beginning of Grand Slam tournaments. So it's nice to have kind of two matches… winning [them] in straight sets.”

The Monte-Carlo resident earned his 40th match win of the season and extended his winning streak to 13 matches, a run that includes clinching gold at the Tokyo Olympics and his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The German, who came within two points of seizing his first major in last year’s US Open championship match against Dominic Thiem, will next play the winner of No. 31 seed Alexander Bublik, of Kazakhstan, or American Jack Sock.


If seedings hold, Zverev will meet Djokovic in the semi-finals, where he would look to repeat his victory over the World No. 1 at the Olympics.

He has now reached the third round at Flushing Meadows for four consecutive years. Today, Zverev won 40 of 43 first-serve points and fired 11 aces against three double faults. Against Querrey in the first round, the German won 46 of 51 first-serve points and hit 18 aces to one double fault.

The German said that he is high on confidence, having not suffered any sign of a letdown following his triumph in Tokyo. “The process started at the Olympics for me, and the match against Novak," Zverev said. "That kind of started it off, because I was down badly, and I managed to win with great tennis.

“It was very important for me to kind of back it up in Cincinnati, because a lot of the times players that for the first time in their career win something really big like a Grand Slam title or a gold medal, they do tend to go downhill a little bit. So it was important for me to go to Cincinnati, to a place where I have never won a match before this year, and have a great tournament.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev- ... -open-2021

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[Kamileki]

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Zverev Advances To Sinner Showdown After Sock Retires

Spoiler:

The American struggles with an upper right leg injury
Jack Sock played a sensational opening set Saturday evening to get the Arthur Ashe Stadium fired up. But an upper right leg injury prevented him from maintaining that level, and he was forced to retire during the fourth set. Fourth seed Alexander Zverev advanced to the fourth round of the US Open 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 2-1.

“If Jack would have continued playing the way he was playing in the first set it would have been done in an hour-and-a-half and I would have planned my holidays and I would have had a good time next week somewhere in the south of France,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “Jack is an incredible player. He’s been Top 10, he’s beaten me multiple times, he’s beaten top players multiple times. He’s a Masters 1000 champion and he showed it in the first set.

“He hit three-thousand winners and zero unforced errors in that first set, so when he’s playing like that, I’ve actually never seen that before. I’ve never played against anybody who was playing at that level, so I hope he can get healthy again and he’ll be at the top of the game very soon.”

The German is into the Round of 16 at Flushing Meadow for the third consecutive year. On his last visit to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center last year, Zverev came within two points of lifting his first major trophy in the final against Dominic Thiem.

Zverev is arguably playing the best tennis of his career, extending his winning streak to 14 behind 33 winners. The German made just 10 unforced errors.

Sock crushed a jaw-dropping 18 winners in the first set, dominating play with his forehand. But after the first game of the second set, the American had ATP physiotherapist Clay Sniteman wrap his upper right leg, and the tone of the match changed.

Zverev dropped well behind the baseline for most of the match and forced Sock to play extra balls and test his fitness. In the second-to-last point of the match, Sock leapt to try to reach a backhand lob, appearing to aggravate his injury again. One point later, after Zverev broke his serve, the home favourite retired.

“It’s difficult to sometimes play someone who is not 100 per cent. I think everybody saw that Jack was really struggling physically,” Zverev said. “You have to keep your focus. At the end of the day we are all competitors and we have to somehow bring the match to the end.”

The Tokyo Olympics singles gold medallist and Cincinnati champion will next play #NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner, who battled past Frenchman Gael Monfils in five sets earlier in the day.

“I think my fourth-round match against Jannik Sinner is going to be extremely entertaining because he’s a very young guy who is very hungry and I feel like that is going to be a high-level match," Zverev said. "I do know that I’m playing okay, but I do know that other players are playing extremely well as well, so I’m hoping to keep my form and give myself the best chance."

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev- ... 1-saturday

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