Mischa Zverev (Hamburg) has reached the round of 16 of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Munich for the third time since 2015. The 30-year-old left-hander defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer in his opening match in 1:12 hours 6:4, 6:3. the long injured Austrian, currently only number 422 in the world rankings, had moved into the main field of the sand court event at MTTC Iphitos thanks to his “protected ranking”.
The older of the two Zverev brothers had so far failed to reach the quarter-finals in the Bavarian capital. Last year, he failed in the round of the last 16 due to Martin Klizan, Munich Champion of 2014. In 2015, Mischa Zverev lost to Andy Murray. The Scotsman won the title a few days later.
Against Haider-Maurer, Zverev, who has had a mixed season so far, managed a total of five breaks. A duel with his Davis Cup colleague Philipp Kohlschreiber is now waiting for him in the round of 16. The three-time Munich winner defeated the Croatian service giant Ivo Karlovic 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The only match to date against Kohli was won by Mischa Zverev in Rotterdam in 2008 (7-5, 7-5). His brother, the top seeded title defender Alexander Zverev (WTA No. 3), will play his first match on Wednesday Yannick Hanfmann (Karlsruhe).
A total of eleven German professionals were in the main field of the traditional event – there were so many in Wimbledon in 2013 – and in Munich 2010, and it is already certain that at least one of the eight DTB starters will reach the semi-finals in the round of 16.
Half of the participants in the last 16 rounds of the 103rd Bavarian International Tennis Championships are Germans. Namely: Alexander and Mischa Zverev, Yannick Hanfmann, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jan-Lennard Struff, Matthias Bachinger, Yannick Maden and Maximilian Marterer or Dustin Brown.