Alexander Zverev Survives His First US Open Match as Top Seed: A Closer Look

On Tuesday, September 2nd, No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev faced the unseeded Lorenzo Sonego in a first-round match that many expected to be over in three sets. It instead lasted five sets and a whopping four hours and 53 minutes before ending in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The First-Round Match

The first set went according to plan for Zverev, defeating Sonego in a classic 6-4 fashion. However, the Italian opponent had a massive comeback and only let the German get away with three games.

The third set is where Zverev had his toughest battle. The two players kept the score tied or close to it for the entire time, but Sonego narrowly won it in a close tiebreaker game that ended 9-7. This was an especially surprising result since their head-to-head record was 6-0 (now 7-0) in Zverev’s favor.

There was an incredibly close call during the fourth set where the No. 1 seed was just two points away from losing the entire match. He came back, though, and defeated Sonego 7-5. The fifth went much more smoothly and ended 6-4 just before 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

Zverev’s Form

Throughout the match, Zverev displayed a very shaky form and struggled with uncharacteristic errors that Sonego took full advantage of. The first issue was that he missed quite a few more backhands than he usually does, and Zverev couldn’t respond fast enough when his opponent would rush the net.

There was also an issue with Zverev’s rhythm during the set, and he struggled to convert too many break points (only five of 27). There was even a moment when he was trailing Sonego 4-5, 30/30 in the fourth set, but he thankfully started delivering powerful serves that could not be returned.

Sonego was also very fast and returned many returns that other players would struggle to hit in time, but Zverev had an endurance that kept him alive. He stayed consistent and hit serve speeds of up to 141 miles per hour even in the last two sets.

The Season So Far

Zverev has found the greatest success of his career during this year’s season. At the French Open, he took on Italian player Flavio Cobolli for the men’s singles final and won in a thrilling five-set match (6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7[5-7], 6-1). It was the fourth Grand Slam final of his professional career but the first time that he had won.

In an interview with JioHotStar, Zverev said, “I was very happy to have finally lifted my first Grand Slam trophy, but now, once you do it, you want more. You want to keep going, you want to continue playing good tennis, and hopefully be a contender for the next one as well.”

Unfortunately, Zverev was not able to win the next Grand Slam title before him. He made it to the final against rival Jannik Sinner but fell in four sets (6-7[7-9], 7-6[7-2], 6-3, 6-4). The first final went well, but the Italian player simply outsmarted and overpowered him for the rest of the match.

After his loss at Wimbledon, Zverev’s performances worsened. He exited the Canadian Open in the Round of 64 against Tallon Griekspoor, and the German player was defeated in the Round of 16 by American Tommy Paul during last month’s Cincinnati Open. Despite these disappointments, this season still has the highest win percentage that Zverev has ever accomplished.

Zverev’s Path to the US Open Final

In response to the tough five-set match, Zverev said, “I think there's definitely room for improvement. I think tonight, funny enough, I think I missed a few more backhands than I usually do. That's something that doesn't happen very often.”

“But definitely something that I can adjust a little bit and hopefully moving forward it will be better,” he continued. “Overall, I think it was a great, tough battle, and I think it was a match that I needed after the last couple of weeks.”

Zverev’s second-round match is later this evening against Frenchman Quentin Halys. He will likely make it to the third round, but the path to another Grand Slam final this year may be trickier than expected for the 29-year-old player.

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