Miami – Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals of the Masters in Miami. The 24-year-old won against the qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis from Australia 6:4, 6:4.
“Thanasi is a very aggressive player, so I tried to take that strength away from him,” Zverev said. “I put pressure on him and was aggressive and that worked very well.”
Zverev, the number two seed, will face Norwegian Casper Ruud in the next round at the hard-court tournament, which is worth around US$8.6 million. “Casper is a great player and he is playing incredibly well at the moment. I’m ready for a tough match,” Zverev said. His best result in Florida was reaching the final three years ago. All other German tennis pros have already been eliminated.
For Zverev, the year has not gone as planned so far. The 24-year-old led the German Davis Cup team to an away victory in the qualifying match in Brazil. His otherwise unsuccessful performance was compounded by his suspended ban after hitting the umpire’s chair with his racket at the tournament in Acapulco.
