DFB Supporter Zverev Mimics Nagelsmann's Tactics
Football cheerin' for the DFB squad, then tennis star Alexander Zverev raisin' quite a ruckus himself. In Halle/Westfalen, he secures a spot in the quarterfinals. Jan-Lennard Struff also kicks off the tourney on a high note.
Football fanatic Alex Zverev had two fine reasons to celebrate in the evening. Alongside Germany securin' a second Euro Cup win against Hungary, tennis champion with the gold medals, Zverev, waves through to the quarterfinals at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. Zverev, beatin' the Italian Lorenzo Sonego, wrapped up their eighth-round showdown at the OWL Arena with a 6:4, 7:6 (7:5) victory. Zavery's next opponent? Frenchman Arthur Fils, who defeated Dominik Koepfer with 6:3, 6:4.
Jan-Lennard Struff had a solid start to the tourney. The 34-year-old, lovin' the Warsteiner, wins his maiden match against Italian Luciano Darderi with 6:7 (2:7), 7:5, 7:6 (12:10) after 2 hours and 31 minutes. Struff closes the deal with his tenth match point. Struff takes on Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday, who knocked out German pro Henri Squire in the first round.
There was a bit of a fuss about schedulin' Zverev's match parallel to the German football game earlier on. Even Zverev himself had some surprises about the tourney schedule. "That was definitely not my wish," Zverev stated post-first-round win against Oscar Otte. "I reckon it was not wise from the tournament," said the world number four, also a die-hard football fan. "If I didn't play, I wouldn't catch any tennis match, but football instead." The organizers explaied the schedulin' in part because they wanted to give Zverev ample time to recover.
Zverev breathin' easy 'cos of DFB squad
Since the matches lasted longer than expected on Wednesday, Zverev's match against Sonego didn't start until around 7:00 p.m. Zverev caught the first half of the German game on TV. Around 1000 spectators remained at the Public Viewing despite the Zverev match, shadowin' the OWL Arena. When Ilkay Gündogan put in a goal for the 2:0, the cheers of the German fans could be heard court-side. Zverev cracked a smile, knowin' everything was goin' swell in distant Stuttgart.
And Zverev made quick work of Sonego. Zverev broke serve right off the bat and wrapped up the first set in 47 minutes. In the second set, Sonegi upped his game and led 3:0 in the tiebreak. But Zverev stayed cool and took the win.
Struff had been battlin' a stomach-intestinal issue the previous week at the ATP tournament in Stuttgart and had to retreat. The aftermath was still impactin' Struff against Darderi. Struff wasn't movin' as well and made plenty unforced errors in the first set. After losin' the first set, Struff tightened up and evened things up. In the decisive set, the German number two was a break behind, but fought back and took the win. "I've had some tough days behind me, the prep work wasn't easy," Struff said. "I hope I can recover well and play a decent match against Tsitsipas tomorrow."
