Zverev is getting better and better at the Australian Open

The road to triumph in Melbourne is still long, but the current form of last year’s finalist is good. In the third round game against his favorite opponent Cameron Norrie, Zverev prevailed relatively safely 7:5, 4:6, 6:3, 6:1. He survived the third round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis season for the seventh time. No German player had ever achieved this before him. Boris Becker made it to the round of 16 six times on Yarra River.

“That was a really strong game,” Becker, as a Eurosport expert, praised the performance of Zverev, whom he had recently criticized frequently. For Zverev it was the seventh victory in the seventh duel with Norrie. In the John Cain Arena, the 28-year-old scored his first match point after 2:46 hours.

Now against Cerundolo

“The last two matches were fantastic games. Cameron played the best game against me today. I’m glad I won,” said Zverev, who was particularly happy with one shot. “I think my forehand was good today. That’s the shot that makes me win or lose,” said Zverev, who worked on it a lot in preparation.

In the fight for a place in the quarter-finals on Sunday, Zverev will face Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, against whom he has lost three of five duels so far. Cerundolo clearly defeated the Russian Andrei Rublev 6:3, 7:6 (7:4), 6:3.

Great heat on Saturday

On Sunday the temperatures in Melbourne are expected to be around 30 degrees again. This Saturday, however, is forecast to be a hot day with temperatures around 40 degrees. The organizers reacted to the expected extreme conditions and moved the start of the games forward by an hour. The game starts at 10:00 a.m. local time in Melbourne Park on the outdoor courts, and games start at 10:30 a.m. in the large arenas. Zverev will be happy not to have to play in his round of 16.

The weather played no role in the duel against Norrie. Conditions were pleasant in the early evening. Zverev missed the start against the left-hander from Great Britain and received an early break. But then he immediately took the service from Norrie, got the game under control and took the first set after 52 minutes.

Zverev is overcoming a period of weakness

Even in the second round it continuously looked as if Zverev couldn’t get into trouble. When the score was 2:2, he missed three break points. The game sputtered along for a bit before Zverev took a mental break for a few minutes. Norrie took advantage of this and managed to equalize the set out of nowhere.

But Zverev, who had already had to go through four sets in the first two rounds, remained calm. The world number three managed an early break in the third round, and now Zverev had everything under control again. The German number one played much more aggressively than in the past and also appeared successfully at the net a few times. Overall, it was a strong and confident performance from the Hamburg native.

No problems with the foot

There was no sign of the foot problems that had unsettled him towards the end of the second round game against Alexandre Müller. Zverev moved well and, like during training the day before, did not have his left foot bandaged. The seagulls, which kept emptying onto the pitch, were the only small problems for Zverev. But he also solved that confidently by grabbing the towel himself and cleaning the place.