#NextGen Zverev Upsets Thiem In Beijing

#NextGen star Alexander Zverev continued his outstanding 2016 season with an opening round win on Tuesday at the China Open over fourth seed Dominic Thiem, pushing him closer to finishing the year inside the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The 19 year old German rallied from a set down to defeat World No. 10 Thiem 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, extending his ATP World Tour win streak to six matches. He also improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against Thiem to 1-3. All three losses against the Austrian came this year on clay courts.

Zverev won the final four games of the match to secure his place in the second round. He applied pressure on Thiem’s serve throughout the contest by earning 14 break points. Zverev also had an impressive serving display in the final two sets, firing eight aces and winning 79 per cent of his first serve points.

Zverev now has four Top 10 wins in 2016. He shocked Roger Federer in June at the Gerry Weber Open, then scored back-to-back wins over Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka last month to win his first ATP World Tour title at the St. Petersburg Open.

Having started the year at No. 83 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Zverev has soared to his current standing at No. 24. He is less than 100 points away from the Top 20 and has nothing to defend for the rest of the year, making him a strong contender to achieve that milestone.

Next up for Zverev at the China Open is fellow rising star Jack Sock.