Alexander Zverev has to work the night shift at the US Open, but completes it successfully.
At 12:48 a.m. local time, Alexander Zverev took a deep breath in the city that never sleeps and was able to look forward to his bed at the end of a demanding night shift. With a solid but by no means outstanding performance, Germany’s tennis star won his tricky first-round match at the US Open – but Zverev will certainly have to improve if he is to challenge for the Grand Slam title in New York.
“To be honest, it wasn’t always great today. But I’m through, that’s the main thing. And I did it before 1 a.m. — not at 3 a.m.,” said the 28-year-old after his 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 against the tenacious Chilean Alejandro Tabilo at the court microphone of the huge but now almost empty Arthur Ashe Stadium. It was there that he suffered perhaps the most bitter defeat of his career in the 2020 final against Dominic Thiem.
Zverev fends off set point
Zverev started strongly and took the first set after only 31 minutes. In the second set, Tabilo played better, Zverev became too passive, faltered briefly and had to fend off a set point at 5:6 before winning the second set and confidently ending the match in the third set. Zverev remained cool in tricky moments in the third set as well.
There is still a long way to go before another final at Flushing Meadows. In his second match, Zverev will now face Britain’s Jack Fearnley, whom he has already beaten without losing a set in the third round of the Australian Open and in the second round of Miami in 2025. “There’s a lot to improve. But I’m looking forward to the match,” said Zverev.
US Open: Successful day for the Germans
His victory in 2:08 hours was the late conclusion to a flawless day for German tennis in New York. Earlier on Tuesday, Daniel Altmaier reached the second round after a 4:46-hour thriller against Serbian Hamid Medjedovic (6:7, 7:5, 7:6, 6:7, 6:4), where Stefanos Tsitsipas awaits.
In the women’s competition, Eva Lys (6-0, 7-5 against Francesca Jones) and Laura Siegemund (7-6, 2-6, 6-3 against Diana Schnaider) won their opening matches. Of only six German men and women, an impressive five have reached the second round, where Jan-Lennard Struff will play Denmark’s Holger Rune on Wednesday.
The greatest hopes are, of course, pinned on Zverev. On his return to the world’s largest tennis stadium, which seats 23,711 and was moderately filled given the late start time of 10:40 p.m. local time, the Hamburg native also had to battle unpleasant memories from last year: At that time, he lost in the quarterfinals at the same venue to Taylor Fritz after a “bottomless” performance.
Zverev too passive at times
He showed that he had recovered just as well from this as he had from the complicated past few weeks. After his first-round exit at Wimbledon, Zverev complained of mental problems and sought professional help. But now “everything is going in the right direction,” said the Tokyo Olympic champion in New York. And he kept going in that direction.
Zverev had won his only previous match against Tabilo in 2024 on clay in the semifinals in Rome. This time, he had a much easier time against the left-hander, who has slipped from 19th to 122nd in the world rankings due to injury. “He is definitely a top 30 player,” Zverev said warningly about Tabilo on his way into the arena.
