French Open champion Alexander Zverev returned to action Tuesday and the top seed delivered 16 aces while posting a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Czech Vit Kopriva in a first-round match at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle in his native Germany.
Zverev was on the grass court nine days after beating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli on the clay at Roland Garros for his first Grand Slam title. Zverev won 44 of 54 first-serve points (81.5%) while fighting off Kopriva, who had 12 aces.
Zverev next faces fellow German Yannick Hanfmann, who rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Brazil’s Joao Fonseca. No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia beat Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 6-4, while Italian qualifier Mattia Bellucci registered a 7-6 (6), 6-1 win over Kazakh No. 7 seed Alexander Bublik, the defending champion.
Also, Hubert Hurkacz of Poland knocked off No. 8 Russian Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2. Other first-round winners were Ethan Quinn, Belgium’s Raphael Collignon, Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro and Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
HSBC Championships
Top-seeded Alex de Minaur survived a grueling first sent and went on to a 7-6 (8), 6-3 victory over Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in the first round at the Queen’s Club in London.
The Aussie staved off two set points in the tiebreak before converting his own second set point to win the competitive set and eventually the match. He will next face Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, who won his opening match on Monday.
Second-seeded Jiri Lehecka of Czechia outlasted Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak 7-5, 7-6 (4), while France’s Adrian Mannarino knocked off Czech No. 3 seed Jakub Mensik 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5). Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, seeded No. 4, beat Brit Cameron Norrie 7-6 (6), 6-2.
Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic notched a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) victory over No. 6 Arthur Rinderknech of France while No. 7 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 winner over American Aleksandar Kovacevic. Among others winners were Americans Brandon Nakashima and Jenson Brooksby, Frenchmen Ugo Humbert and Corentin Moutet, Peru’s Ignacio Buse, British wild card Arthur Fery and Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata.
–Field Level Media
