Tennis: Zverev advances easily in Paris - now his nemesis awaits

Paris. Germany's top-ranked tennis player, Alexander Zverev, comfortably reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters 1000 tournament. The defending champion won his second match of the year at the tournament against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-4. "I'm very happy with the level of play," said Zverev.

With his victory, the world number three set up a rematch with his long-time rival Daniil Medvedev. The Hamburg native has lost his last five matches against the Russian, one of his bogey teams. Most recently, he was eliminated by Medvedev in the quarterfinals in Beijing.

Zverev easily won the first set against Davidovich Fokina thanks to a significantly lower error rate. Fokina made 18 unforced errors in the first set, while Zverev only made three. Zverev broke his opponent's serve to lead 2-1 and 5-2.

In the second set, the defending champion finally suffered his first service break. Although he immediately regained the lead with a break in the first game, he relinquished this advantage just as quickly. However, Zverev remained composed and broke the Spaniard, who was receiving treatment on his thigh, to take a 4-3 lead. After 1 hour and 36 minutes, the victory against the world number 15 was secured.

Zverev had previously struggled in his opening match against Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli, only managing to win in three sets. "I felt better today. Hopefully I can improve further tomorrow," said the 28-year-old.

Daniel Altmaier, however, was eliminated in the round of 16. The 27-year-old was defeated by ninth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 3-6, 2-6. In the previous round, Altmaier had caused a major upset by defeating world number nine Casper Ruud of Norway.

Altmaier secured an early break against Auger-Aliassime, which he then defended confidently. In the second set, Altmaier missed a break point at 2-2 and shortly afterwards lost his own serve. After 1 hour and 28 minutes, Auger-Aliassime leveled the match.

Altmaier lost his rhythm and immediately dropped his serve again in the third set. The Canadian was now clearly better and secured his advancement after 2 hours and 11 minutes.

RND/dpa