Tennis Masters: Zverev complains, misses seven match points

French Open finalist Alexander Zverev made it to the round of 16 at the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai despite heated discussions with the referee and seven missed match points. The world number three beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 7:6 (8:6), 2:6, 7:6 (7:5). After 2:47 hours, Zverev made it through with his eighth match point, defying his lung problems. He now faces former top ten player David Goffin from Belgium.

“It was an incredible match, he is an incredible player,” said Zverev appreciatively. When asked about his physical condition, he remarked: “I’m happy that I was able to hold my own and be able to play three sets. Let’s see what it looks like tomorrow.”

Thugs on the ground

Zverev got entangled in discussions with the Swedish referee Mohamed Lahyani several times in his third round match. At 4:5 in the first set, Zverev was warned for exceeding the time limit. A game later, the Hamburg player had a heated disagreement with the referee when he loudly complained about a decision. However, Lahyani was correct that the ball bounced twice.

Zverev threw his racket on the ground and received a warning. Even at the break (5:6), the German number one was still angry and sent clear words to the referee. “I haven’t had any luck with referee decisions all year,” said Zverev, but admitted: “Everyone makes mistakes, that’s human.”

Drama in the final tiebreak

Despite the excitement, Zverev saved himself in the tiebreak and used his second set point. He continued his discussion during the break in the sentence. After the long and hard-fought first set, the favorite was quickly 0:5 behind in the second half after three service losses and conceded the equalizer against the world number 40.

Zverev then served strongly in the decisive round, but at the same time missed eight break chances – four of them as match points when the score was 6:5 – which is why he had to go into the tiebreak. There he pulled away and was 6:2 ahead. But Griekspoor made things exciting again with three points in a row before hitting a volley just into the net.