2:15 in the morning, again
Two matches, nine and a half hours, two finishes after 1:30am. Alexander Zverev is not making this easy on himself in New York.
The German, top seed at the US Open, got past Quentin Halys 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (3), 6-3 in a second round that ran four hours and 15 minutes and ended in the small hours of Friday. Two days earlier he had gone the distance with Lorenzo Sonego, walking off court at 1:55.
The stat sheet explains the mess. Zverev out-served the Frenchman, 29 aces to 18. He also converted five of 20 break points. The only break of the fifth set arrived on match point.
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“Pretty bad, to be honest”
The 29-year-old was not selling anything. “The performance was pretty bad, to be honest, but I won, and that’s the most important thing,” he said afterwards. “I’ve been out there for four and a half hours, 2:15 in the morning again, but that’s why I go to the gym.”
On carrying the No. 1 seed, he was just as blunt. “It’s great until you almost lose every single time. It doesn’t matter who the seeds are; what matters is who’s still there at the end of the draw. And I’m crawling towards that.”
Crawling or not, this is the best Grand Slam year he has had. Semi-finalist in Melbourne. First major title at Roland-Garros on his fourth attempt, beating Flavio Cobolli in five. Then a Wimbledon final lost to Jannik Sinner.
Tabilo next, and a 2-0 head-to-head
The summer since has been thinner. Out in his opening match in Toronto, gone in the fourth round in Cincinnati.
Halys, 29 and ranked 52nd, has still never gone past a Grand Slam third round. He did win his first ATP title in Kitzbuhel in July.
Alejandro Tabilo is up next. The Chilean, seeded 25th, came through Alexei Popyrin in four sets on Thursday. Zverev has beaten him twice, including in the first round here last year.
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