Thirty-eight minutes to set the tone
Alexander Zverev walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium close to 11pm and walked off it past one o’clock with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 win over Alejandro Tabilo. The top seed reaches the US Open fourth round having spent 2 hours 26 minutes on court, which counts as a rest week after the two five-set marathons that opened his tournament.
He faced no break point in the first set. Zverev won all 11 points behind his first serve, took five of seven on his second, broke the Chilean twice and pocketed the set in 38 minutes. Tabilo, seeded 25th, had lost to the same opponent in the second round on the same court last year and the opening exchanges looked like a repeat.
The German broke again for 4-2 in the second and the match should have closed there.
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Tabilo makes him work
Tabilo pushed to 0-30 on the Zverev serve in the sixth game and found nothing, then broke in the eighth and won three games in a row for a 5-4 lead. He served for the set and had Zverev under pressure in the tenth game.
Two set points went begging. Zverev saved both, broke to level, and immediately handed the break back to force a tiebreak. That was the last resistance Tabilo mustered. The breaker went 7-2 and the set was gone.
The Chilean carved out two break points in the opening game of the third. Zverev answered each with a winner. From there the top seed took the final four games without giving Tabilo another look.
Darderi next
Zverev thanked the fans who stayed past 1am, an unusually late finish caused by the three-hour third-round match between Iva Jovic and Alexandra Eala that opened the night session. Play did not start until nearly 11pm.
Luciano Darderi awaits in the fourth round. The 21st seed took care of Australian wild card Dane Sweeny 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a straightforward afternoon and arrives at the quarter-final playoff with far fewer miles in his legs than the man across the net has accumulated over five days in New York.
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