Zverev, Johnson Start Strong In Stuttgart

Sixth seed and home favourite Mischa Zverev was ruthless on serve during his grass-court opener on Monday, winning 84 per cent of his service points (32/38) to beat Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-1 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart.

Zverev hit seven aces and never faced a break point during the 54-minute victory. The 29 year old, who reached the Stuttgart quarter-finals in 2009 and 2015, is one of eight Germans in the draw and will next meet wild card and compatriot Yannick Hanfmann, who beat Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics 6-3, 7-5.

“I think it was a good match, and I felt pretty comfortable based on the circumstances, it’s the first match after changing surfaces,” Zverev said.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

The left-hander said he benefited from an early start on the grass-court season and a more than competent practice partner. Zverev, who lost in the first round at Roland Garros, spent a week practising on grass courts in London with his brother, #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev, who also fell in the first round in Paris.

“We played a lot of practice sets, and we had a lot of good battles. I think it definitely helped me to start off playing well today in the first round,” Mischa Zverev said.

Fifth seed Steve Johnson was forced to work hard during his MercedesCup debut to beat German wild card Maximilian Marterer 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. The American captured his first ATP World Tour title at last year’s Aegon International (l. to Cuevas), when the grass-court tournament was held in Nottingham. Johnson will next challenge Marcos Baghdatis or Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round.

German Jan-Lennard Struff also advanced, saving all eight break points to prevail past Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko 6-4, 7-6(3) in 89 minutes.