Keen To Impress: Zverev Cruises In First Match Under Lendl

In his first match under new coach Ivan Lendl, Alexander Zverev made a strong first impression. The 21-year-old German cruised to victory in his US Open opener, defeating lucky loser Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Having hired Lendl, former World No. 1 and coach of Andy Murray, to improve his chances of winning the biggest tournaments in the sport, Zverev wasted no time advancing to the second round in Flushing Meadows. Zverev fired 10 aces and won 83 per cent of first-serve points to progress after one hour and 36 minutes. The Citi Open champion improves to a tour-leading 44-13 record this season and has already equalled his best result at the final Grand Slam championship of the year.

The World No. 4 has now reached the second round in New York for the third consecutive year, but will hope to progress much further in the draw this fortnight. Zverev reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final earlier this season at Roland Garros, falling to eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem in three sets.

Polansky made headlines earlier this week after becoming the first player on record to enter all four Grand Slam events as a lucky loser. Remarkably, the Canadian has managed that feat in 2018 alone, with four consecutive Grand Slam entries as a lucky loser.

Read More: Polansky’s Destiny: The Luckiest Loser Of Them All

The nine-time tour-level titlist will face another lucky loser, Nicolas Mahut, or French wild card Corentin Moutet for a place in the third round. The reigning Mutua Madrid Open champion trails Mahut 0-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series and is yet to meet Moutet at tour-level.

Last year’s quarter-finalist Diego Schwartzman made a winning return to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, beating countryman Federico Delbonis 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-2. Schwartzman, who fell to Pablo Carreno Busta in the last eight in 2017, hit 36 winners and converted six of 13 break-point chances to move through to the second round after two hours and 41 minutes.

Schwartzman will meet Belgian Ruben Bemelmans or #NextGenATP Spaniard Jaume Munar in the second round. Munar currently sits in eighth position in the ATP Race To Milan. Only the top seven automatically qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, with the eighth spot reserved for the winner of an all-Italian qualifier tournament to be held just prior to the tournament.

Did You Know?
At the Mutua Madrid Open in May, Zverev became the first player to win a clay-court title without being broken since stats started being kept in 1991. The German faced one break point en route to the title.