Just in time for the football hit between England and Germany, Alexander Zverev confidently completed his first tennis duty in London.
One of the favorites from Hamburg moved into the second round with a smooth victory over outsider Tallon Griekspoor this Tuesday at Wimbledon.
Zverev shone against the Dutch qualifiers at 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 1, especially with his serve and was never in danger.
A brief rain break didn’t bring him out of step either.
“The moment I came on the pitch made me happy.
Things are going back to normal, ”said Zverev during the interview while still on the pitch.
Big names are missing
The next opponent in the Grand Slam tournament, which is played on grass, is the American Tennys Sandgren or the Slovak Norbert Gombos.
Zverev is number four at Wimbledon.
Some potential competitors are not or no longer there: Rafael Nadal has waived, the Austrian Dominic Thiem is injured, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas has already retired.
Zverev had to fend off some breakballs in the first game on the number one place, but then the favorite found his rhythm.
With good serves, net attacks and solid tennis from the baseline, the 24-year-old dominated the match against Griekspoor of the same age, who was in the main field of Wimbledon for the first time.
After the first sentence, before the end of which Zverev gave up his service, the long North German asked for an interruption because raindrops made the lawn slippery.
At first, the game was still played, then the roof was closed, and with a little delay, Zverev made the 2-0 perfect in the second round.
He then suffered another loss of service and a fall.
Against the courageous Griekspoor, Zverev could always rely on his strong and extremely effective serve on grass. A quick break at the beginning of the third round and another to 4: 1 were practically the decision in front of the half-filled spectator seats. After only 1:29 hours of play, Zverev made the progress perfect.
After Laura Siegemund, Mona Barthel was also eliminated from the women's division. The Neumünster lost 7: 6 (7: 2), 3: 6, 3: 6 against the Chinese Zhu Lin. Barthel's match was supposed to take place on the opening day, but was postponed for one day due to rain. Philipp Kohlschreiber's match against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, which was postponed to Tuesday, was interrupted in the fourth set due to rain, as was the match that was canceled on Monday evening by qualifier Daniel Masur. Andrea Petkovic also had to leave the seat shortly before the end of the first set of her game.