Zverev Continues Fine Form In Madrid

After winning his second BMW Open by FWU crown last week, Alexander Zverev continued his fine form at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday night, defeating Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy 6-2, 7-5.

The German No.1, who reached the quarter-finals in 2017 (l. to Cuevas), won 85 per cent of points behind his first serve and did not face a single break point en route to the third round. Zverev joins Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem with an ATP World Tour-leading 22 wins in 2018 (22-7).

The 20-year-old has now won nine of 11 matches on clay this season and improves to 9-3 at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events this year. The second seed in the Spanish capital reached the Miami Open presented by Itaú final in March (l. to Isner) before a run to the semi-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. to Nishikori) in April.

Zverev started quickly on Court Manolo Santana, breaking serve in the opening game of the match to take an early lead. The pressure continued throughout the set, with the World No. 3 securing a second break to lead 5-2 before emphatically taking a one-set lead, serving out the set to love with his third ace. The second set saw Donskoy provide a much tougher test for the Munich champion, but Zverev pounced at 5-5 to snatch a crucial break before converting his first match point with a powerful run-around forehand down the line.

Zverev will play Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer for a place in the quarter-finals. Mayer cruised past Fernando Verdasco, 6-2, 6-1, after the Spaniard had recorded his 500th career singles match win on Tuesday. The World No. 45 saved three break points  faced and clinched victory after 70 minutes with his third ace of the match.

Kubot/Melo Reach Quarter-Finals
Defending champions Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo defeated Pablo Cuevas and Marcel Granollers 7-5, 7-6(10) to advance to the quarter-finals. The top seeds failed to convert two match points at 5-4 in the second set, before clinching the win in a 22-point tie-break after saving three set points to avoid a decisive Match Tie-break.

The Uruguayan-Spanish duo await Fabio Fognini and Diego Schwartzman or wild cards Florin Mergea and Daniel Nestor with a place in the semi-finals on the line.

Fifth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares outlasted Dutch duo Robin Haase and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. The Acapulco titlists (d. Bryan/Bryan) will face Damir Dzumhur and Franko Skugor or Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan for a place in the quarter-finals. Dzumhur and Skugor moved on after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Karen Khachanov and Lucas Pouille.