ATP Munich: Alexander Zverev safely reaches the quarter-finals
Alexander Zverev made it into the quarter-finals of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Munich with a solid performance. The two-time champion at the MTTC Iphitos beat Ricardas Berankis 6: 2 and 6: 4.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 28, 2021, 03:59 pm
Five degrees in autumnal Paris would not have helped his elbow, basically this has been a problem since the French Open, which was moved to autumn 2020. This is how Alexander Zverev put it on Monday. Five degrees in spring-like Munich are said to have happened before, and Tommy Haas' back certainly knows a few stories to tell. But: At least on Wednesday, the sun still held up, which tournament boss Patrik Kühnen is expecting for the next few days.
Alexander Zverev started an event with one against Ricardas Berankis that no other player but him can win. In other words, there is of course the possibility that Zverev will lose a match. But he would have to help out himself. The gap between number one at the BMW Open 2021 and the next best player has widened after the cancellations of J annik Sinner , Hubert Hurkacz, Daniel Evans and Aslan Karatsev. Well,Casper Ruud made a good impression against Pablo Cuevas, but before a meeting with Zverev, the young Norwegian is still missing two wins.
Zverev hits at over 200 km / h
Zverev's serve worked well against Berankis, good enough anyway. The radar measurement registered impacts of over 220 km / h, on the other hand, the naked eye also registered a few frame hits on the second impact. Pure concentration at Zverev, who also goes about his work in Munich sleeveless.
Ricardas Berankis showed great respect from the start, just as befits a lucky loser against the tournament favorite. Berankis had already beaten two Germans in Munich before the game against Zverev, Max Rehberg in qualifying, Maxi Marterer in the first round of the main field. In between there was a loss to Ilya Ivashka. Due to the flood of rejections, Berankis, supervised by DTB Vice President Dirk Hordorff, was allowed to continue playing as a lucky loser.
After winning the first set, Zverev quickly led with a break in round two, Berankis won three games in a row after the 1: 3. But that was it with the Lithuanian glory. After 86 minutes of play, Zverev used his second match point and played in the quarter-finals on Friday against either Ilya Ivashka or Mackenzie McDonald.
Here the single tableau in Munich
miphitos