Alexander Zverev beat Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-1 7-6 (7-5) to reach the second round at Bitpanda Hamburg Open at the AM Rothenbaum in his home city. Zverev won he Hamburg title in 2023 and finished runner-up to Arthur Fils in last year’s edition of this tournament.
Zverev broke three times to win the first set 6-1 in just 27 minutes. The world number 3 player broke serve in the fourth game to build a 4-1 lead. Kovacevic broke back in the seventh game and held serve in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4 forcing the match to the tie-break. Zverev won the first four points of the tie-break He earned three match points at 5-3. Kovacevic saved the first two match points, but Zverev sealed the win on his third opportunity to set up a second round match against Alexandre Muller.
Zverev hit 24 winners to just 12 unforced errors.
“It was good. Especially the first set and a half was almost perfect. Obviously I’m extremely happy about the level and looking forward to the next matches. In the second set he started hitting the ball extremely hard and being unbelievably aggressive, and sometimes I was not in control of the rallies anymore. Credit to him, and I’m happy with the win”, said Zverev.
Andrey Rublev beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4 6-3. Rublev won 83%of his first serve points. Rublev will face either Jann Lennard Struff or Justin Engel.
Dzumhur earned an early break in the first game of the opening set. Rublev broke straight back in the second game. Both players went on serve until the 10th game when Rublev earned his second break to win the first set 6-4. Riblev converted his second break point in the second game and held serve in the third game to open up a 3-0 lead. Dzumhur converted his third break point in the seventh game to reduce the deficit to 3-4. Rublev broke for the second time in the eighth game and served out the win on his first match point.
