Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter finals of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Basel. The German number one defeated the Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin with 6:4 and 6:4 and now meets Roberto Bautista-Agut.
With players like Alexei Popyrin, Alexander Zverev, with all due respect, has his joy. The Australian, who won the 2017 Roland Garros junior competition, is now earning his first spurs on the ATP Tour, while Zverev has long since established himself in the men’s Bel Etage. And especially in comparisons with the even younger players almost always the nose ahead – there are exceptions, for example in Toronto against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
In Basel Popyrin had defeated compatriot Matthew Ebden in round one, who in turn had been successful against Dominic Thiem a few days ago in Shanghai. Not so against Zverev: The Hamburg-born player also won his second match against Robin Haase after a somewhat tough start and entered the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 500 event 6:4 and 6:4.
The 19-year-old Australian, currently in 174th position in the ATP world rankings, showed little respect, especially as a serve. Popyrin followed his balls at almost every opportunity, showed a good overview on the net – and still had to give up his service in the ninth game. After exactly half an hour Alexander Zverev served to zero.
At any rate, the German was clearly superior from the baseline, especially as Popyrin also dispensed with the stylistic device of the undercut ball. Zverev’s passing points also became more precise – the result was an early break to 2:1. The fact that Zverev, who was seeded second behind Roger Federer, could not make use of further chances in the fifth game did not influence the match any more. The German number one was too dominant as a serve – Popyrin could not earn a single break opportunity during the whole match.
Zverev will play Roberto Bautista-Agut in the quarter finals on Friday. The Spaniard, who was born in Hamburg, has competed against him five times so far. Zverev won three games, including the last one a few days ago at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai.
Here the single tableau in Basel