Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev bested Vit Kopriva to kick off his grass season on a winning note. The German registered a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 inside heristo-arena on Tuesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.
With his two-hour, 10-minute win, the 29-year-old tied Rafael Nadal for the most ATP 500 match wins (121) since the series was created in 2009.
“Of course, I’m very pleased and happy to play my first match as a Grand Slam champion in Germany, but I don’t think that affected me too much,” Zverev said. “It was really the change of surface, and my opponent was really good today. I thought he played a fantastic match, and he was hitting his groundstrokes incredibly well, serving unbelievably well.
“To be honest, I’m very pleased with the win because I think it was a difficult match, a difficult opponent, and for the first grass-court match, it was not too bad.”
The German won 81 per cent (44/54) of points on his first serve, but Kopriva broke in the 10th game of the second set to force a decider. From 2-2 in the third set, the home favorite won four consecutive games to book his place in the next round.
Zverev will next face his countryman, Yannick Hanfmann for a quarter-final spot in the next round.
On the other hand, Hanfmann earlier stunned Joao Fonseca with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph to claim his 100th tour-level victory.
Meanwhile, Mattia Bellucci stunned the defending champion Alexander Bublik 7-6(6), 6-1, becoming just the second man in event history to upset a reigning champion in the opening round.
