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Daniell/Oswald advance in Sardinia
Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev have won two ATP Tour doubles titles together and reached five more finals. But third seeds Raven Klaasen and Oliver Marach eliminated the Germans 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 in the first round of the bett1HULKS Indoors on Tuesday.

Klaasen and Marach saved 11 of the 14 break points they faced, including all eight in the second set, to triumph after one hour and 23 minutes. The South African-Austrian duo was 1-5 after the ATP Tour's restart before their victory in Cologne. Ironically, their one previous win since August came against Alexander Zverev (w/Tim Puetz) at the Western & Southern Open.

Klaasen and Marach will next play Spaniards Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Fernando Verdasco or Germans Daniel Masur and Rudolf Molleker.

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Daniell/Oswald Begin Doubles Title Bid
Third seeds Marcus Daniell and Philipp Oswald, finalists at the ASB Classic in January, opened their Forte Village Sardegna Open campaign with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Spaniards Albert Ramos-Vinolas and David Vega Hernandez. They won 60 per cent of their return points in a 53-minute victory, setting up a second-round clash against Artem Sitak and Igor Zelenay.

In other action, American singles stars Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe ousted Andre Goransson and Jiri Vesely 7-6(7), 1-6, 11-9. On Monday, Paul rallied from a 0-5 third-set deficit in singles against Andrej Martin. Marcelo Arevalo and Jonny O'Mara also advanced with a 4-6, 7-5, 10-4 triumph against wild cards Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

German to face Harris in quarter-finals

Alexander Zverev began his title bid at the bett1HULKS Indoors with a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.

Chasing his third ATP Tour trophy on home soil, the two-time Munich champion was dominant on serve against the former World No. 7. Zverev fired seven aces and won 84 per cent of his service points (32/38) to improve to 4-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against Verdasco after 63 minutes.

“It is nice to be done in just over an hour, especially against Fernando because playing a first match back on hard courts against Fernando can always be tricky,” said Zverev in an on-court interview. “He is one of the most powerful opponents that you can have. I am happy to get the win and happy to be in the quarter-finals.”

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Zverev is attempting to claim his first ATP Tour trophy since the Gonet Geneva Open in May 2019. The 6’6” German, who owns a 16-8 record in 2020, advanced to his first final of the season at last month’s US Open (l. to Thiem).

The top seed will meet South Africa’s Lloyd Harris for a semi-final spot. Harris claimed his place in the quarter-finals with a 7-6(5), 7-6(2) win against Steve Johnson on Wednesday.

“[Harris] is a young guy as well, similar to my age… My brother played him once so I am going to ask my brother a few questions. It is going to be interesting,” said Zverev.

<a href='/en/players/felix-auger-aliassime/ag37/overview'>Felix Auger-Aliassime</a> has reached finals at two indoor hard-court events this year.

Third seed Felix-Auger Aliassime continued his strong run of indoor form this year. The #NextGenATP Canadian, who finished as runner-up in Rotterdam and Marseille in February, did not face a break point en route to a 6-4, 6-1 win against Swiss qualifier Henri Laaksonen.

Auger-Aliassime will attempt to reach his fourth semi-final of the season when he faces Radu Albot in the quarter-finals. The Moldovan outlasted Oscar Otte 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 on Wednesday.

"[Radu] is quick. He puts a lot of balls back," said Auger-Aliassime. "[He is] among the shorter guys on Tour, so not the biggest serve, but I am sure he can place it very well. It is going to be tricky because maybe my approaches are going to come back more than today… I am going to have to play one, two, three or more balls, so I am going to be ready for that challenge."

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina recovered from 3-6, 0-2 down to battle past eighth seed Marin Cilic. The #NextGenATP Spaniard reached his first quarter-final of the year after two hours and 22 minutes, withstanding 12 aces to record a 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 victory.

Davidovich Fokina will meet Dennis Novak for a place in the semi-finals. The Austrian defeated fourth seed Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.

German seeking first trophy of 2020

Alexander Zverev booked his place in the bett1HULKS Indoors semi-finals on Friday, beating Lloyd Harris 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 in Cologne.

Zverev led by a set and a break at 6-4, 1-0, but dropped two of his next four service games to find himself in a deciding set. The World No. 7 charged towards victory in the third set as Harris began to struggle with an injury to his upper left leg and closed the match by outmanoeuvring his opponent at the net.

“I have got to do a better job of keeping my focus until the end of a match. I relaxed a little bit and then he picked up his game,” said Zverev in an on-court interview.

“Playing on the ATP Tour, you only play great players. Once you lose your focus, it doesn’t matter what your ranking is, it doesn’t matter how many titles you won, you have still got to play until the end otherwise it can go the other way very quickly.”


Zverev is through to his third semi-final of the year. The German has achieved his best results at Grand Slam events this season, finishing as a runner-up at the US Open and reaching the Australian Open semi-finals.

Harris was contesting his fifth match in Cologne after battling through qualifying with consecutive three-set wins. The South African was attempting to reach his second tour-level semi-final of the year after advancing to his maiden ATP Tour final at the Adelaide International in January (l. to Rublev).

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“[Harris] went through qualifying, so he had a lot of matches under his belt already,” said Zverev. “He is playing with a lot of confidence. He is playing well. He is somebody that I think will go up the Rankings quite easily if he continues playing the way he is playing.

”He improved his game a lot. The first time I saw him was against Mischa [Zverev] in Halle last year and I think he improved a lot since then. The end of this year and next year will be very important for him.”

Chasing his third trophy on home soil, the two-time Munich champion will meet Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for a spot in the championship match. The #NextGenATP Spaniard battled past Dennis Novak 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to reach his second ATP Tour semi-final. In the pair's only previous ATP Head2Head encounter, Zverev claimed a straight-sets victory at last month's US Open.

German battles past Spaniard Davidovich Fokina
Alexander Zverev is now just one win from claiming his third ATP Tour title on home soil.

The top seed defeated 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-5, 7-6(3) to reach the final of the bett1HULKS Indoors in Cologne. Zverev has now won nine of his past 10 matches on hard courts and he will play second seed Roberto Bautista Agut or third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on Sunday for the crown.

The World No. 7 is into his second final since the ATP Tour restarted in August. Zverev, who is 23, made his first Grand Slam championship match at the US Open, where he became the youngest major finalist since Novak Djokovic at the 2010 US Open.

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In the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, the German only lost five games against Davidovich Fokina. His three-set victory took just one hour and 34 minutes. But Zverev had to work much harder in their second ATP Head2Head encounter, breaking serve twice and hitting 10 aces in a one-hour, 57-minute triumph.

On the slower indoor Cologne court, Zverev remained steady throughout most of the match, as did his 21-year-old Spanish opponent. Davidovich Fokina was not able to hit through Zverev, but he tracked down many balls and mixed in his drop shot well. One slip in the final game of the first set was enough to give the top seed the advantage.

Zverev appeared in complete control at 7-5, 4-1, but Davidovich Fokina continued battling hard from the baseline. The German missed an aggressive cross-court forehand wide to relinquish his break advantage, allowing the Spaniard back in the match. But after giving up an opening mini-break in the tie-break, Zverev raised his level to close out the match.

This will be Zverev’s fifth final in Germany, where he is 2-2 in championship matches. The Hamburg-native is a two-time Munich titlist and a two-time Halle finalist.

The German is now a 12-time ATP Tour titlist
Alexander Zverev won an ATP Tour title for the fifth consecutive year on Sunday, defeating Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 to triumph at the bett1HULKS Indoors.

"I had a very tough final in New York and the next final I played here I wanted to come out and obviously play my best tennis, finish the match," Zverev said during the trophy ceremony.

Zverev and Auger-Aliassime were meeting in the first of what might be many finals, but it was the German who proved superior to take a 3-0 lead in their ATP Head2Head series. The 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion has not yet lost a set in their budding rivalry.

"Felix, you’re an unbelievable player. I know it doesn’t mean much right now, but I’m sure you are not only going to win one title, you’re going to win multiple, multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this," Zverev said. "We know each other incredibly well… you’re going to be lifting a winner’s trophy very soon."

<a href='/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'>Alexander Zverev</a>
Photo Credit: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images
The World No. 7 has now won three tour-level trophies in Germany and he was dominant for most of the week in his home country. Zverev only lost one set en route to the ATP 250 title, showing an impressive balance of offence and defence to defeat Auger-Aliassime after one hour and 20 minutes.

"It was a good match. [In] the final I played my best tennis, as you should do in a final," Zverev said. "The week in general was very positive for me. Being back in Germany after over a year was very nice for me."

Zverev, who is now a 12-time tour-level champion, has won 10 of his past 11 matches on hard courts following his run to the US Open final. He is also the first German to triumph on the ATP Tour this year.

While Auger-Aliassime was able to power through the stout defences of second seed Roberto Bautista Agut in their semi-final Saturday, the 20-year-old couldn’t find the same success against the home favourite. Zverev did well to make the Canadian go for more from neutral positions, leading to errors on key points.

Zverev also gained more of an advantage behind his first serve, winning 80 per cent of those points compared to 59 per cent for Auger-Aliassime. The top seed held to love four times, while the third seed did so once. It was an uphill battle for Auger-Aliassime after he was broken in his first service game with a miss into the net. That set the tone for their clash.

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Zverev’s only hiccup came when serving with a double-break advantage in the opener, hitting back-to-back double faults to concede one of those breaks. But the 23-year-old remained calm and that paid dividends. He threw both arms in the air after Auger-Aliassime missed a forehand long to end the match.

The Canadian is now 0-6 in ATP Tour finals. Auger-Aliassime was trying to become the fifth first-time winner in 2020.

"I just played bad from start to finish," Auger-Aliassime said.

Zverev earned €24,880 for his efforts throughout the week and he adds 250 FedEx ATP Rankings points to his total. He has already qualified for a fourth consecutive appearance in the Nitto ATP Finals. Auger-Aliassime pocketed €19,790 and 150 points.

Both players will remain in Cologne to compete in next week’s bett1HULKS Championships. Zverev will again be the top seed and Auger-Aliassime will be seeded fifth.

"Quite happy that there are back-to-back weeks here at this indoor [venue]," Zverev said. "Next week is going to be difficult, but I'm looking forward to it already."