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“Yeah, definitely (a good win), especially after a tough last week,” he told Sky Sports. “I didn’t expect him to play the way he did to be honest with myself. Something that I have to learn from. I beat him quite easily in Rome, and he was nowhere near that level so, that’s a mistake from me and I have to prepare better for my opponents.” Zverev had previously beaten Ugo Carabelli convincingly at the Italian Open, 6-2, 6-1. “But he was fantastic today, he was serving incredible, playing the forehand unbelievable,” Zverev added. “His backhand slice was nasty on this surface so I’m happy with the win because it was definitely not easy.” This season hasn’t been straightforward for Zverev as he’s struggled to keep pace with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the top of the rankings. He’s also had a string of losses against lower-ranked players. This year alone, defeats have come against Alexandre Muller, Francisco Cerundolo and twice against Arthur Rinderknech. Still, there were positives to take away from this match as Zverev showed real grit against Ugo Carabelli and could carry some momentum into his next match in Paris. The week before Vienna Open final appearance saw him overcome Jacob Fearnley in three sets during an up-and-down tournament run – yet another sign of improved determination as we head into key matches ahead of year-end championships later on. Zverev matches Raonic’s hard court masters win total As noted by OptaAce, Zverev has now matched Milos Raonic for the second-most ATP Masters 1000 match wins on hard courts among players born since 1990. Both men have picked up 95 wins in that category, with only Grigor Dimitrov ahead of them at 103. Zverev will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the next round after the Spaniard beat Arthur Cazaux. The German holds a 5-1 advantage in their previous meetings. Their most recent clash came at the Madrid Open earlier this year, where Zverev fought back to win 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(0).
