Alexander Zverev played two matches in his first Grand Slam as the No. 1 seed. They took a total of 10 sets and more than nine hours.
After surviving a five-game marathon over Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the 2016 US Open, the German again found himself in a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-3 win over Quintin Halys in the second round. The first match finished at 1:55 am local time, the second at 2:15 am
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If that sounds unusual, it is unheard of. Zverev is the first top seed in the Open Era to start a Grand Slam with five back-to-back runs, per ESPN.
Shirtless quickly went to win.
Zverev’s play fluctuated during the competition. He still had a huge serve, hitting 29 aces and winning 82-of-103 first serve points (80%). He also scored an inordinate amount of tries in the most important moments of the match, going 5 for 20 at the break. He was 5 for 22 on breakaways against Sonego as well.
He was often passive on the baseline and at one point seemed to have lost significant power in his hand, but he also benefited from some target hitting by Halys, who finished the match with 63 odd errors to Zverev’s 49.
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Zverev will need nowhere near his form if he wants to show that the Roland-Garros title earlier this year was meaningless. His third round opponent will be No. 25 seed Alejandro Tabilo.
The US Open is open to Alexander Zverev, if he can take it
Before Zverev took the court on Thursday, he was portraying himself as very good.
Three notables upset the meadows of Flushing on the men’s side that day: No. 3 seed Felicis Auger-Aliassime, No. 6 seed Alex de Minaur and No. 13 Lorenzo Musetti. We can call these players by another name: the highest seeds could face Zverev in the semifinals, quarterfinals and fourth round.
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At this point, the top seeds ahead of Zverev in the semifinals are No. 21 Luciano Darderi in the fourth round and No. 31 seed Zizou Bergs in the quarters.
We have seen this movie before. Zverev won Roland-Garros in part against a field of exhausted contenders, and we are now approaching New York. In addition to Auger-Aliassime and de Minaur, No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic went down in the first round, as two young players in the field of No. 10 Arthur Fils and No. They did 12 Rafael Jodar.
2. Carlos Alcaraz is still there, but he is playing in the tournament for the first time in over four months. Jannik Sinner, who beat Zverev 10 times in a row, pulled out of the draw with a knee injury.
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There remain some threats in the field, most notably No. 7 Daniil Medvedev, who won the 2021 US Open, and a collection of American talents from No. 8 Ben Shelton, No. 9 Taylor Fritz and No. 11 Frances Tiafoe won.
The flip side of this is that Zverev has looked so vulnerable so far that this could be the best chance in years for an American to break a 23-year drought since the country’s last Grand Slam, Andy Roddick’s US Open title in 2003.
Roddick Zverev played color match commentator in the ESPN booth.