The highly-anticipated, all-teenager showdown in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday afternoon did not exactly live up to the hype. Alexander Zverev made sure of that.
One year older than Taylor Fritz and a considerable favorite at No. 27 in the world, Zverev cruised past the 18-year-old American 6-4, 6-2 after one hour and 16 minutes to reach the third round of the Citi Open. The 19-year-old German fired seven aces and held all nine of his service games while fighting off five break points.
One break at 1-1 in made the difference in the first set, but only because Zverev consolidated it by surviving a marathon service game at 2-1. The seventh seed saved five break points and persevered through seven deuces to finally hold. He held another deuce game for 5-3 before serving out the opener with a love hold at 5-4.
It was all but over when Fritz donated serve from 40-0 up at 1-1. The world No. 67 had fended off four break points to hold for 1-0, but he seemed to play better from behind than from ahead. Zverev reeled off five consecutive points from 4-0 down in the 1-1 game, the fifth of which came courtesy of a Fritz double-fault. As the 2015 Washington quarterfinalist, who took a late wild card into this summer’s edition of the tournament, he lost only four service points in the entire second set–including zero in his last two service games.
“It was a difficult match,” Zverev commented. “The court was very fast; the center court here is always faster than the other courts. I’m happy to get through that one…. This match of course means something to me, but it doesn’t mean a lot for the future,” Zverev commented. “There are a lot of improvements to make; both of us.”
There was better news for the American contingent in the match that took place simultaneously with Zverev-Fritz on Grandstand 2. Ryan Harrison, who qualified just to get into the main draw, punched a ticket to the third round by upsetting No. 10 seed Viktor Troicki 7-6(4), 6-4. Harrison trailed by break in the first set and by 3-0 in the ‘breaker, but he stormed back to advance in two hours and 16 minutes.
The world No. 158 got the job done despite converting only three of 22 break chances.
Fellow American Steve Johnson also won his second-round match, as he finished off a rain-delayed tilt with Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-4. Johnson and Harrison will square off on Thursday with a spot in the quarterfinals at stake.
Zverev on the practice court immediately after beating Fritz:
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