Zverev Wins Second Straight Five-Setter To Advance At U.S. Open
For the second straight match, top-seed Alexander Zverev has had to battle into the early morning hours in New York, this time defeating France’s Quentin Halys 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-3 to advance to the U.S. Open third round on Thursday.
The French Open champion has now spent more than nine hours on court, and played 10 total sets through two rounds.
“The performance was quite s***, to be honest,” he said afterwards. “But I won, and that’s the most important thing. I’ve been here for another four and a half hours, 2:15 a.m. again.”
The key moment came at 2-2 in the deciding fifth set when Zverev secured what to turn out to be the decisive break. Zverev would grab another break to bolster his advantage, and found his serve in that fifth set, facing no break points.
Up next for Zverev is Alejandro Tabilo, the 25th seeded Chilean. Tabilo defeated Alexei Popyrin 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), 6-2.
“I just hope at some point I’ll start playing better tennis. I’m winning ugly right now,” Zverev said. “It’s also a skill to win ugly and when you’re not playing great tennis, I think I’ve mastered that right now. I hope I’ll start playing better tennis. I said it last year, New York has always been difficult for me. Just the conditions, it’s really difficult for me to play good tennis here, but I hope I’ll find something.”
If Zverev is winning ugly, then American Taylor Fritz has been winning pretty. The American defeated Mattia Bellucci of Italy 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in just one hour and 38 minutes on Thursday, marking his second consecutive straight-sets win in New York.
Fritz has been broken just once through his two matches, and has spent the minimum time on court as he prepares for a third-round match against Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, the 24th seed.
“I feel great. I think it is really important to not kill yourself in the first couple of matches, because you need to have the energy to potentially do that later on in the week,” said Fritz. “At the end of the day, you do get a day off, but anyone will tell you one day is not enough to recover from a five-set match. It’s just not. You can come back and still play good, but it’s not enough to fully recover. [So] It’s good to get through these the way that I’ve gotten through these, I think the one today gives me a lot more confidence than the first-round match.”
Former semifinalist Karen Khachanov knocked off three-seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, while 14th seeded American Learner Tien ended the Grand Slam career of Gael Monfils with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
