Miami – Alexander Zverev has avoided another opening round exit at an important tennis tournament and may also have a new coach.
The world number three won with some difficulty 6:4, 3:6, 6:3 against Croat Borna Coric in Miami and is thus already in the third round after his walk-through earlier. “I needed a win,” Zverev said afterwards, relieved, “I’m happy how it went.”
Several media reported before the match that Zverev was testing former French Open winner Sergi Bruguera as his new coach. The Spaniard watched the match from the stands. Unlike his immediate exit in Indian Wells last time, Zverev thus made a good start to the second major hard-court tournament in the USA this month. In the round of the last 32, the Hamburg player will face either the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or the American Mackenzie McDonald.
Zverev had lost three of their previous five encounters against Coric, who is one year older and only ranked 166 in the world after a long break due to shoulder surgery, and was therefore warned. The former world number twelve gifted Zverev the first break chance with several errors at 4:4 in the first set, which the Olympic champion also took with a forehand. After winning the set, Zverev wobbled on serve for the first time, gave up the service and subsequently had to go into a third set. There he took a 3-0 lead and won after about two hours of play.
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.
