Alexander Zverev’s on-court hiccups continued despite edging past Diego Schwartzman 6-3 4-6 6-3.
Another erratic match from the big German saw him win the hard way against a tough Diego Schwartzman.
In just over two hours, Zverev produced the better tennis when it mattered as he wins his second match at the ATP Finals for the first time in his career.
These days a Sascha Zverev match has ups and downs, lots of flows of confidence and quite a few double faults. This match was no different as Schwartzman tested the German’s nerves early on.
After a tough service hold, Schwartzman gained the first break of the match. The first key double fault from Zverev set up the break point for the Argentinian which was executed after taking advantage of the German’s poor net play.
However good resilience was shown by Zverev as he made sure Schwartzman’s nervy second serves were punished. A powerful forehand winner saw the scoreboard level.
Good mixture of slice and depth ensured Schwartzman was still in this match while the German was not aggressive enough as he failed to use enough angles and didn’t shorten the points up enough.
Backhand unforced errors from the 8th seed gave Zverev the important break and a 4-2 lead. Dictating points in this set was crucial for the German in terms of confidence and he slowly managed to achieve this.
A timid start to the ninth game saw Schwartzman create two break-back points. However Zverev’s stubbornness proved to be his strength as he upped the intensity and pace to seal the opening set 6-3 in 40 minutes.
Both players’ character was tested at the beginning of the second set as they both saved break points to hold their opening service games.
After a long opening games, Zverev showed good fluid tennis as he brought the powerful consistency to his game as he broke for a 2-1 lead.
At 3-1 it began to look like the German was going to cruise to victory however once again a lack of confidence and concentration rose in his game.
Unforced errors haunted the German as he was broken twice through some very erratic mistakes and handed the second set to the Argentinian 6-4. Despite some good serving, Zverev’s groundstrokes were beginning to haunt him against a player who he should comfortably be overpowering.
The Argentinian in the third set continued to take the match to Zverev using his variety and quick movement.
Although using the slice continued to be a good shot against the German, sometimes he used it on one too many occasions and in the fifth game Zverev exposed it with powerful winners for the break.
Even though Schwartzman continued to dig deep and cover the court with his pace and supreme angles, Zverev eventually overpowered his Argentinian opponent to win 6-3 4-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 13 minutes.
The 2018 champion now goes 1-1 in the group and knows a win against Novak Djokovic on Friday could see him into the semi-finals.
As for Diego Schwartzman, he will need to beat Daniil Medvedev next to have a slim chance of qualification.
