Australian Open: Zverev fights through: “That’s how tennis is sometimes”

Alexander Zverev was only able to avert an early exit at the Australian Open with a lot of effort. The Olympic tennis champion won in Melbourne against the Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein 7:5, 3:6, 4:6, 7:6 (7:5), 7:6 (10:7) and moved into the first Grand Slam tournament of the season into the third round.

In the fight for a place in the round of 16, Zverev will face Alex Michelsen from the USA on Saturday. The 26-year-old scored his first match point against Klein after 4:30 hours.

Two more German tennis professionals, Jan-Lennard Struff and Tatjana Maria, have the chance to move into the third round this Thursday. Struff will face Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic in his second round match. Maria, the only remaining German player, will play against number 26 seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini. The games started late due to rain in Melbourne.

Unfocused and lacking energy

“I would have preferred to win in an hour and a half, but he played incredibly well. I didn’t know what to do for a long time,” said Zverev after the marathon match. “He deserved to win more today. But that’s how it is sometimes in tennis.”

Zverev appeared unfocused and sleepy for a long time in his second appearance at Melbourne Park this year. The 26-year-old is known for not particularly liking early starts at tournaments. Zverev also acted without energy and emotion for a long time against Klein. Zverev, who suffers from diabetes, repeatedly checked his blood sugar level during the break. Zverev didn’t really seem at his best.

Nevertheless, he was not initially in serious danger. After 50 minutes, Zverev took the first set without playing any good tennis. That didn’t change subsequently. Klein recognized this and became more and more courageous as the game went on. The world number 163 very often duped Zverev, who was inexplicably far behind the baseline, with stops.

Zverev keeps his nerve

He took the serve from Zverev to make it 4:2. Due to a brief shower, the roof over the John Cain Arena was closed a short time later. But even the short interruption did not ensure that Zverev returned to the pitch more awake and focused. Klein managed to equalize the set and took the service from Zverev again right at the beginning of the third round. The German number one accepted all of this in a strangely emotionless manner. Klein now played better and better and took the lead with 2:1 sets.

Zverev was on the verge of elimination in the fourth set. When the score was 4:4, he had to fend off a break point and escaped into the tiebreak. There too he kept his nerve and managed to equalize the set. The Hamburg native shouted his joy loudly. When Zverev took serve from the Slovakian at the beginning of the fifth round, he seemed to have the game under control.

But even in this situation, Zverev failed to take the initiative. He gave up his serve to make it 3-3. Klein had long since worked himself into a bit of a frenzy and was constantly encouraged by the spectators. The decision had to be made in the tiebreak, where Klein finally lost his nerve.