Australian Open: Zverev fights his way into the third round in Melbourne – a Brit is waiting there

Alexander Zverev ended his match with an ace, briefly baring his teeth. That was hard work, that is to say. The best German tennis professional held his own against the French Alexandre Müller on Wednesday evening with 6:3, 4:6, 6:3, 6:4; he had lost to the 52nd in the world rankings at the clay court tournament in Hamburg last summer. At this Australian Open in Melbourne, played on hard courts, he had to fight for more than three hours to reach the third round of the first Grand Slam event of the year.

“That was a match at the highest level,” he said afterwards, and he even had fun. In his next game, the world number three will face the British Cameron Norrie, the left-handed player suits him. He has not lost any of six duels so far. Zverev is the last remaining German man in the third round. Yannick Hanfmann fought bravely against world number one Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon, but lost 6:7 (4), 3:6, 2:6. The match duration of 2:45 hours testified to the dogged resistance of the 34-year-old from Karlsruhe.

It was a difficult victory for Zverev; he appeared shaky several times in his game. Above all, he fell back into old patterns at times, stood too far behind the baseline and acted too passively. The result: After he seemed to have the match under control, he let Müller back into the game, who promptly took the second set. Zverev’s body language didn’t radiate confidence either; he argued a lot. In the third set, Zverev managed a break to 4-2 just in time before a long interruption due to a downpour (the roof was closed), winning Müller’s service game, and when the two continued their duel after 37 minutes, the game was completely one-sided.

Zverev dictated the rallies, his forehand working excellently as a gear lever. “You think it’s a different game,” said Eurosport commentator Boris Becker. Things got tricky for Zverev from 2-1 onwards in the fourth set; his foot was causing him problems. At 3:2 he was treated by the physiotherapist. “I took a painkiller and was a bit afraid that it would sting my Achilles tendon,” he said during an interview on the pitch. But it is not his “Paris foot”. In 2022 he suffered a seven-fold ligament tear in his right ankle at the French Open.

Hanfmann, which spoke for his professionalism and how much he has matured as a player, did not want to wallow in satisfaction because of his excellent performance. He was extremely disappointed. He said he would have loved to “steal” the first sentence from Alcaraz, then he would have liked to see what would have been possible. He still received praise from his well-known opponent. “I knew he would play great, I know his level. It was still harder than expected at the beginning,” said Alcaraz: “I didn’t feel the ball that much – and his balls came like a bomb. That’s why I’m happy to have survived this difficult first set.” The six-time Grand Slam winner, who has never won the Australian Open, will now face French trickster Corentin Moutet.