Alexander Zverev has successfully launched his title campaign at the 32nd TERRA WORTMANN OPEN. The world number three won his first round match against the American Marcos Giron with a commanding 6:2, 6:1. The Hamburg native will now face Lorenzo Sonego in the second round on Thursday. The Italian had already prevented a possible German duel with Jan-Lennard Struff the day before.
Zverev dominated the match from the very first minutes. He did not get into trouble at all in his own service games, but put Giron under pressure time and again. Strong returns, offensive play and a lot of variability characterised the 28-year-old's successful performance. The German number one managed a total of 14 winners in the first set alone.
To the delight of the already packed OWL Arena, Zverev earned his first break point at 3:2. A backhand from Giron landed out of bounds - the 4:2 lead was secured. A short time later, there was a brief moment of shock when an advertising banner attached to the upper tier of the stadium crashed into the lower tier below and hit a spectator. The match had to be briefly interrupted and Zverev and umpire Renaud Lichtenstein quickly handed ice cubes into the stands.
Shortly afterwards, the match could continue and Zverev quickly turned the focus back to the match with his second break to win the set. Zverev also quickly put his stamp on the second set. With an effective net attack and another aggressive forehand down the line, he snatched the break for 2:0. Giron continued to endeavour, but was still unable to find an antidote to his opponent's many good serves.
Instead, Zverev was on hand again and scored another break to make it 5:1. After 1:19 hours, he crowned his strong performance with a backhand winner on his first match point.
