In what had the potential to be an epic nextgen battle between two of tennis’s most promising teenagers, world No. 24 Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, 19, dominated on his serve and won the big points to beat American qualifier Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Tiafoe, who will be celebrating his 19th birthday on Friday, was unable to break Zverev’s serve even once.
A Zverev vs @FTiafoe on court 2 later. Can't wait
— Patrick McEnroe (@PatrickMcEnroe) January 18, 2017
Out of the gate, the match seemed to be living up to its billing, with the young shotmakers testing one another with their big serves and deadly forehands. The players held their serves for the first three games, but a series of errors by Tiafoe allowed Zverev to break for a 3-1 lead. A few games later, the Zverev stole a second break to take the set 6-2.
The second set was slightly tighter, staying on serve until 4-3, at which point some poor shot selections from Tiafoe and a beautiful backhand half-volley from Zverev allowed the German to go up 5-3. Zverev then held his serve, putting himself up by two sets.
For a just little while, it looked like Tiafoe was going to get back into contention. Up 3-2, the American earned himself three separate opportunities to break — partly owed to consecutive double faults by Zverev — but he was unable to convert on any of them. With the pressure on, Tiafoe went up 4-3 by putting away an overhead volley, but Zverev negated his effort by holding at love. The following game, Tiafoe missed and forehand dropshot and overcooked a forehand, giving Zverev two break points. Tiafoe managed to serve his way to deuce, but it wasn’t enough to stop Zverev from breaking for 5-4. He then nailed Tiafoe’s coffin shut by blasting two aces and subsequently completing the straight-set victory at 6-4.
Sealing the comprehensive straight sets victory with relative ease, Zverev admitted after that match that he initially struggled to adjust to the conditions on the Hisense Arena.
“It was difficult in beginning for me.” Said Zverev. “It was different conditions than the first round. First round on Hisense is kind of an indoor court. Court 2 is much faster.”
“But still, I actually played well in the beginning. But still I felt like from the baseline I was struggling a little bit. “
“I’m happy to get a straight-sets win, be better prepared for the next match.” He added.
Great performance from Zverev to easily beat Tiafoe 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Sascha can play Nadal next…
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 19, 2017
In Round 3, Zverev will play the winner of 2009 Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal and 2006 finalist Marcos Baghdatis.
