French Open 2021: Alexander Zverev comes from two sets down and survives a first round scare
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Alexander Zverev
Sixth seed Alexander Zverev completed a perfect comeback over countryman Oscar Otte, coming from two sets down to win in five sets 3-6,3-6,6-2,6-2,6-0 in the first round of the French Open. Coming from the qualifiers, Otte troubled Zverev in the initial sets but lacked big match experience to close it out.
Sascha started off well, keeping his game clean and hitting winners. His countryman matched his pace and stepped up his game. Otte was the first one break but was broken back by Zverev. But the qualifier had different plans for the evening. He came to the net almost every other point and caught Zverev by surprise. He broke Zverev once more and consolidated it to win the first set 6-3.
Although the Madrid Masters Champion was playing well, he was blown away by the Otte’s unorthodox gameplay. Pressure by building on Zverev in the second set and he couldn’t cope up with it. He couldn’t anticipate Otte’s drop shots and struggled to keep his first serve in place. Despite having break points, he couldn’t convert them and eventually he got broken twice and lost the second set 3-6.
Alexander Zverev’s epic comeback
The third set witnessed a completely story. Otte’s foot movement, which was his strength in the initial two sets seemed very slow and that worked very well for Zverev’s confidence. The sixth seed was quick to exploit that and made Otte move around the court. He was in control and soon took a double break to take a 4-1 lead. He served out the set 6-2.
The World No.6 seemed to have found his lost serve. He was serving very well all of a sudden and made less unforced errors. His backhand, which has aided him a lot this Clay season, was again coming handy in the fourth set. After a gun start, he broke Otte upfont to take an early lead. The higher ranked German meant business this time around as he broke Otte multiple times to close out the set 6-2.
The Final set was all about Zverev. Otte didn’t have enough left in his legs to come to the net frequently which played things perfectly into Zverev’s hands. The No.6 seed cruised through the set, breaking his opponent thrice and bageling him to win the match.
Zverev will now have a two day rest and will be back on court on Wednesday and will face either Roman Safiullin or Carlos Taberner in the second round.
Also read: French Open 2021: Pablo Andujar comes from two sets down to upset Dominic Thiem in the First Round
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)