Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters in Rome. The Madrid winner beat the British Kyle Edmund 7:5 7:6(11).
Zverev did not show his best tennis on Thursday afternoon. He got off to a perfect start, taking a 2-0 lead, but when he wanted to save for the set win, he had to accept the first loss of serve since the tournament in Munich.
However, Zverev quickly made up for the small flaw by breaking Edmund again and then losing 7-5.
In the second round, however, the same picture emerged: an early break to 1:2 did not let Edmund despair. He returned at 3-4 and even had a set point at 5-4, but could not use it.
A tiebreak had to decide on set two. Edmund made two unforced mistakes in a row at the beginning, Zverev quickly lost 3-0. The current number 19 in the world fought back again, defended three match points and took another set point.
At 6:6, Zverev was frustrated and threw his play equipment into the sand, as he simply could not close the game. Again and again Edmund had an answer to Zverev’s match points with crashing winners, but the eighth one brought him victory and a place in the quarter-finals.
There, the tournament’s number two will face David Goffin, who benefited earlier this afternoon from Juan Martin del Potro’s task due to groin problems.