Alexander Zverev broke down the game of in-form Chilean Nicolas Jarry on a sun-kissed Tuesday in an eagerly-anticipated first-round encounter at the Hamburg European Open. The second-seeded German, who made his big breakthrough at the ATP 500 tournament as a 17-year-old in 2014 when he reached the semi-finals, knocked out Jarry 6-4, 6-2 in 72 minutes.
"I had decided to go into the match much more aggressive than in the last encounters we played," said Zverev. "If you let him into the match he is unbelievably good and can play very aggressively. When he has to move and run a bit, he might become a little worse, but all-in-all it was a very positive first round for me."
Zverev broke twice in the first set, but could not convert three set points and was broken by last week’s Swedish Open titlist at 5-2. He then won 20 of 25 points from 1-2 in the second set en route to his 26th match win of the year. He will now prepare to face Italian Marco Cecchinato or Federico Delbonis of Argentina.
On 25 May, Zverev saved two championship points to beat Jarry at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open for the 11th ATP Tour title of his career. The 22-year-old is currently in ninth position in the 2019 ATP Race To London for a spot at the eight-match Nitto ATP Finals, where he is the defending champion. The season finale takes place at The O2 from 10-17 November. Buy Tickets
Zverev’s countryman Jan-Lennard Struff, the seventh seed, struck 10 aces and lost five of his first-service points to sweep past Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes. He will next play Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, who defeated wild card Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 7-6(5), 6-4 in one hour and 42 minutesreadfullarticle
