Alexander Zverev’s 2023 season continued to gain momentum Wednesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where the home favourite eased past Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Zverev broke Shapovalov’s serve in the opening game of the match on OWL Arena and barely looked back as he wrapped a 75-minute triumph in which he did not face a break point. The German won 82 per cent (28/34) points behind his first serve as he rode vociferous home support to his first Halle quarter-final since 2019.

Calm ➕ Confident

@AlexZverev | @ATPHalle | #TerraWortmannOpen pic.twitter.com/bEZsY71rbF

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2023

“I’m very happy with today,” said Zverev after defeating former Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov. “I’m especially happy with how I returned. I think the first return I missed was in the middle of the second set, so with that part I’m very happy.

“Moving forward, it’s not going to get easier. Nicolas Jarry is somebody that has an extremely big game, extremely suitable for grass courts, but I’m looking forward to the match.”

Zverev struggled to find his best form upon returning to ATP Tour action at the start of the season after recovering from a long-term ankle injury. Yet he looked back to his best in reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month and is now 23-15 for the year after his latest win in Halle, where he reached the championship match in 2016 and 2017.

His quarter-final opponent Jarry also delivered a big-hitting performance on Wednesday to stun second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(7), 7-5. The Chilean struck 34 winners to Tsitsipas’ 22 for his sixth career victory against a Top 10 opponent.

Jarry had beaten Tsitsipas on grass in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019, and the 27-year-old delivered a confident one-hour, 52-minute display to advance to the quarter-finals on his Halle debut. Jarry, who lifted his second and third ATP Tour titles, respectively, in Santiago and Geneva this year, has risen two spots to No. 26 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Halle so far.

Cameron Norrie dug deep in front of his home fans Wednesday to deny Jordan Thompson a second-round upset at the Cinch Championships.

The fifth-seeded Briton prevailed 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Thompson at the Queen’s Club to reach the quarter-finals for the second time at the grass-court ATP 500. Norrie won 10 of the final 13 games of the match to complete an impressive turnaround after ‘s-Hertogenbosch finalist Thompson had taken charge in west London.

Delivering on home soil 🏡@cam_norrie reaches his sixth ATP Tour quarter-final of the season, navigating past Thompson, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2!@QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/XeZZv0xerp

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 21, 2023

“I think it was the perfect match,” said Norrie. “Jordan obviously really likes the grass and he played a really solid first set. He played a couple of good points to break me, and I played a couple of loose points, and that was the difference in the first set. I actually thought I played great, so I didn’t really have to change too much.

“He dropped his level slightly [in the second set]. I came up with a few points and it was just like classic grass-court tennis. I was able to come out with a lot more energy in that third set and I think that was the difference. There wasn’t much in it, and it was a really good match to get through.”

With his one-hour, 58-minute win Norrie improved to 31-11 for the 2023 season. The 27-year-old lifted his maiden ATP 500 crown on clay in Rio de Janeiro in February and will take on fourth seed Frances Tiafoe or Sebastian Korda next as he chases his first tour-level grass-court title at Queen’s, where he reached the championship match in 2021.

After five months of waiting, the time has come. The final five episodes of Break Point Season 1 are now live on Netflix.

The first five episodes of the hit docuseries were launched in January. Now fans can watch the rest of the season, further getting to know stars like Nick Kyrgios and Taylor Fritz, while being introduced to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe.

The five episodes that are now live are as follows:

Episode 6 – Belonging
Tournament Focus: Wimbledon
Players Featured: Nick Kyrgios, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Ajla Tomljanovic

Episode 7 – Saints and Sinners
Tournament Focus: Wimbledon
Players Featured: Nick Kyrgios, Ons Jabeur

Episode 8 – Fairytale in New York
Tournament Focus: US Open
Players Featured: Ajla Tomljanovic, Taylor Fritz

Episode 9 – Under Pressure
Tournament Focus: US Open
Players Featured: Frances Tiafoe, Iga Swiatek

Episode 10 – One Last Chance
Tournament Focus: Nitto ATP Finals, WTA Finals
Players Featured: Aryna Sabalenka, Taylor Fritz

Beyond the stars of the show, several well-known experts including Andy Roddick, Chris Evert, Maria Sharapova and Patrick Mouratoglou continue to help inform the viewers.

Carlos Alcaraz kept alive his chances of reclaiming World No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings next Monday with his three-set win over Arthur Rinderknech in the first round of the Cinch Championships.

The 20-year-old Spaniard will climb past World No. 1 Novak Djokovic next week if he wins the title at the ATP 500 grass-court event. Anything less and recent Roland Garros champion Djokovic will remain No. 1.

Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings (as of 20 June)

Every match counts for Alcaraz, though. Since no points are being defended at Wimbledon this year, he will want to stick as close to Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as possible, even if he is unable to return to No. 1 immediately.

Djokovic is closing in on history. The 36-year-old has held World No. 1 for 389 weeks in his career, more than any man or woman in tennis history. He is trying to become the first to sit atop tennis’ mountain for 400 weeks.

But Alcaraz is attempting to halt that pursuit. The Spaniard has already been World No. 1 for 25 weeks in his young career, 16th-most in history. He will also try to earn his second year-end ATP No. 1 presented by Pepperstone after last year becoming the youngest player in history to claim the achievement.

For now, Alcaraz will focus on Queen’s Club, where he will play Czech Jiri Lehecka in the second round.

There is movement possible elsewhere this week, too. World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will pass Casper Ruud to become World No. 4 if he wins the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. Holger Rune can crack the Top 5 for the first time if he triumphs at Queen’s Club and Tsitsipas fails to reach the final in Germany.