No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev defeated fast-rising Belgian Alexander Blockx for the second time in as many weeks while Spanish phenom Rafael Jodar battled past a home favorite during the third round of the Italian Open on Sunday.
Zverev defeated Blockx 6-4, 6-1 in Rome nine days after the German handed Blockx a 6-2, 7-5 exit from the Madrid Open semifinals.
Blockx, 21, has climbed to 36th in the world rankings with his recent success, but Zverev held his own by winning 38 of 53 total service points (71.7%) and 9 of his 12 points at the net (75%) while saving both break points he faced.
Zverev felt he played “much better” than he did in the Round of 64, a 7-5, 6-3 win over countryman Daniel Altmaier.
“I think it was difficult to play pretty tennis from the baseline today because the conditions were not easy, it was very windy,” Zverev said. “But overall, I am very happy.”
Meanwhile, the 32nd-seeded Jodar continued his impressive run on clay by taking down Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Jodar, 19, rose to 34th in the rankings after winning the ATP 250 event in Marrakech, reaching the semifinals in Barcelona (ATP 500) and making the quarters in Madrid (ATP Masters 1000), where he lost to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy.
“I’m very happy. It’s never easy to play an Italian here in Rome,” Jodar said. “I tried to play my tennis. Matteo played very well in the second and third sets, so I just tried to be there every point and accept whatever happened during the match.”
Jodar hit 28 winners and converted 7 of 10 opportunities to break Arnaldi’s serve. Arnaldi mixed just 16 winners with 33 unforced errors.
Jodar’s next opponent will be No. 19 seed Learner Tien. The young American knocked off ninth-seeded Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Zverev will take his turn facing a crowd favorite in the fourth round when he meets No. 18 Luciano Darderi of Italy. Darderi worked past 16th seed Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
No. 8 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy beat No. 25 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 7-6 (7), 6-4; No. 23 seed Casper Ruud of Norway upset Czech 11th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4; No. 13 Karen Khachanov of Russia rallied past Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; and Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic eliminated No. 31 Ugo Humbert of France 6-1, 7-5.
–Field Level Media
