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Alexander Zverev showed changeable tennis in Qatar
Photo: IMAGO/Paul Zimmer
At the ATP tournament in Doha, Alexander Zverev lost his hard-fought round of 16 match against former world number one Andy Murray 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 2, 5: 7.
For Zverev, who had a bye in the first round, it was the fifth defeat in the eighth match in 2023. His opponent still found words of praise: "Alex always fights to the end - that's one of his greatest strengths," said Murray on the field and added: "In the third set he created more chances and was the better player for long stretches."
Zverev only gets into the rhythm in the second sentence
As in previous encounters, Zverev, who suffered a lengthy foot injury in the French Open semifinals last June, was also changeable against Murray.
In the first set he was able to take the serve from the three-time Grand Slam winner twice – but immediately after that he conceded a break himself.
In the tie-break, Murray had stronger nerves.
Zverev then found his rhythm better, his balls had a better length and his serve was much more constant and successful than his opponent.
In the decisive third set, Murray and Zverev fought a duel at eye level until the German number one gave up their serve to make it 5: 6.
Murray converted his second match point after 3:02 hours and meets the French qualifier Alexandre Müller in the quarterfinals.
ast/dpa
