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German next meets Sonego

Two-time Halle finalist Alexander Zverev downs Oscar Otte at the Terra Wortmann Open. Watch live & on demand at TennisTV.com.

Alexander Zverev navigated through a tricky opening-round test Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open, where the second-seeded German defeated countryman Oscar Otte 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Aiming to go one step further than his two finalist appearances in Halle (2016, 2017), Zverev stayed patient to outlast Otte in baseline exchanges and capitalised in pressure moments with first-strike tennis to advance.

"A week ago, I was playing on clay still basically. He made it very tough for me, no rhythm at all," Zverev said in his on-court interview. "That's how grass-court tennis is sometimes and I'm just happy with the win. He did make it extremely difficult for me, so credit to him. I'm obviously happy that I won and hopefully it's going to be a level above in the next match."

The qualifier Otte routinely presented challenges to Zverev, often serve-and-volleying and absorbing the World No. 4's firepower with off-pace slice. But the Roland Garros finalist stuck with his heavy hitting, crushing 54 winners to his 40 unforced errors, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to win in two hours, 17 minutes under the OWL Arena roof.

Zverev improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Otte, who has troubled the 22-time tour-level titlist in both of their meetings. Otte led Zverev two-sets-to-love in the first round of Roland Garros in 2021 before the two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion roared back to win and later reach the semi-finals.

The Rome champion, who is 35-10 on the season, next looks to extend his perfect 3-0 record against Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

Otte, No. 474 in the PIF ATP Rankings, was competing in his first tour-level event since Wimbledon last year. The 30-year-old revealed on Instagram in August 2023 that a knee injury suffered at the grass-court major required him to undergo surgery.

German next faces Hurkacz
June 21, 2024
Highlights: Zverev advances to Halle 2024 SFs
Alexander Zverev rallies past Arthur Fils at the Terra Wortmann Open. Watch live & on demand at TennisTV.com.

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Terra Wortmann Open/Mathias Schulz
Alexander Zverev defeats Arthur Fils after two hours, 30 minutes in Halle.
By ATP Staff
Is this the week Alexander Zverev captures his first grass title?

A two-time Halle finalist, the German is looking to go one step further at the Terra Wortmann Open, where on Friday he rallied past #NextGenATP Arthur Fils 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

The 27-year-old raised his level in the second set, breaking Fils to love at 3-2 amidst a run of winning eight consecutive points. Zverev, seeded second at the ATP 500, took free swings from the baseline and looked for opportunities to charge forward in the latter stages of the match.

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With rain falling at the start of the third set, the roof at OWL Arena was closed for the decider. Cheered on by his home crowd, Zverev won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and was not broken across two hours, 30 minutes, improving to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Fils. The Rome champion is yet to be broken this week.

“After the French Open, I was hoping on grass I would play a bit quicker and not play for two-and-a-half, three hours every single match, but I’m continuing what I always do,” the Roland Garros finalist joked. “I’m happy to be winning and be in the semi-finals.”

Zverev, 37-10 on the season, is the first player since Roger Federer (2012-19) to reach back-to-back semi-finals in Halle. Zverev is 18-7 across eight appearances at the German tournament.