Mischa Zverev is the fourth German pro in the second round of the prestigious ATP tournament in Indian Wells, California. On the other hand, Jan-Lennard Struff and Peter Gojowczyk, whose form was last so strong, failed because of their opening hurdles.
Mischa Zverev (Hamburg) defeated Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin on Saturday night and converted his first match point after 2:09 hours to 6:3,4:6,6:1. The next opponent of the 30-year-old left-hander is the 18 seeded American Sam Querrey, last year’s semi-finalist in Wimbledon.
For the older Zverev brother, who used five of his ten break points in the 5th stage of the Tennis Gardens, it was only his third victory in the 10th match in 2018. Previously, his colleagues Jan-Lennard Struff (Warstein) and Peter Gojowczyk (Munich) had failed at the opening hurdle. Davis Cup player Struff had to admit defeat to the Australian hope Alex de Minaur with 6:3,6:7 (3:7), 6:7 (5:7), Delray Beach finalist Gojowczyk lost 4:6,4:6 against Israeli Dudi Sela.
In addition to Mischa Zverev, his brother Alexander Zverev (Hamburg) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (No. 31) from Augsburg and Maximilian Marterer from Nuremberg are in the second round.