Alexander Zverev is aiming to advance to the next round at the Cincinnati Masters. He’ll now face a French opponent.
Alexander Zverev has cleared his first hurdle at the ATP Masters in Cincinnati and is now aiming to reach the round of 16.
A tough opponent awaits in the third round: Zverev will face Frenchman Terence Atmane, who reached the semifinals in Cincinnati last year and secured his spot in the third round this time with a victory over Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The match is scheduled for late Monday night into Tuesday.
The top-seeded French Open champion Zverev won his opening match against Britain’s Cameron Norrie late into the night with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Hamburg native needed 2 hours and 35 minutes to secure the victory and didn’t convert the match point until 2:15 a.m. local time.
Can Zverev capitalize on the absence of Sinner and Alcaraz?
For Zverev, the penultimate stop on the North American hard-court swing offers the chance for the perfect dress rehearsal ahead of the 2026 U.S. Open.
With both Jannik Sinner—out due to knee problems—and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz—who has been injured since April—absent, the German has a chance to pull off a coup just before New York—as the top seed.
The 29-year-old has already won seven Masters 1000 titles, but has been waiting for another victory at this level since the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters. In Cincinnati itself, he could build on past successes; after all, he already claimed the title at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in 2021.
