ATP Acapulco: Alexander Zverev at the start against the brother-killer
Alexander Zverev starts as a clear favorite in his first round match at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Acapulco (live on Sky and in our match tracker). The opponent is the 19-year-old Australian Alexei Popyrin, who beat Brother Mischau and Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Feb 26, 2019, 09:35 am
If Alexander Zverev wanted to know more about his first opponent at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Acapulco, he could probably also ask Dominic Thiem besides brother Mischa: After all, he had some experience with Alexei Popyrin a few weeks ago. And they weren't good ones. Not so much because the Australian would have played so outstandingly - rather Thiem had already fallen ill for his second round match at the Australian Open and had to give up in the third set. And that after Popyrin knocked out Mischa Zverev in three rounds on lap one.
Up to this point, however, Mischa and the Austrian had been able to note: serve and forehand, these are the strengths of the junior winner at the French Open 2017. Afterwards, they were almost enough to bring Lucas Pouille out of the first Grand Slam Throw tournament this year. The Frenchman was only able to prevail in five sentences.
Zverev in Acapulco 2018 in the semi-finals
The 19-year-old should not be a stumbling block for Alexander Zverev. Subject to the question of whether the native of Hamburg is in full possession of his powers. Since the abrupt end of his Australian Open campaign against Milos Raonic, Zverev has only played the two individual games in the Davis Cup against Hungary, after which he canceled his appearance at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Rotterdam.
Zverev has pleasant memories of Acapulco; last year he was here in the semi-finals, losing to Juan Martin del Potro. The Argentine takes time off in 2019, the comeback in Delray Beach took too much strength. Zverev is in second place in Mexico behind Rafael Nadal, and as the first seeded player another Australian could wait in the quarterfinals with Alex de Minaur.