By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Alexander Zverev just increased his chances of entering the playoff round of the ongoing US Open Grand Slam tournament after sweeping Alexandre Muller- 6.4, 7.6, 6.1- on August 29, 2024, in Queens, New York.
With the lopsided victory, Zverev just punched a ticket to the third round of the US Open and will be facing Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina who earlier knocked out Francisco Cerundolo during their second-round encounter.
Despite a shaky start in the tournament when he needed five long sets to repel the unseeded Maximilian Marterer in the first round, Zverev finally found his groove in the second round after overpowering his Argentinian foe from the get-go.
Unlike his previous performance where he had an error-plagued start which allowed Marterer to gain some momentum, Zverev this time showed no mercy and pummeled Etcheverry with his down-the-line forehand bombs.
Aside from his improved groundstroke game, Zverev also protected the net better and piled up some easy points from there in the second set.
With a more complete arsenal clicking on all cylinders for Zverev, Etcheverry could just stand and wait for an error to come to have some sigh of relief.
However, just when Zverev thought that he could bag the second set off a service possession, a late offensive run from the Argentinian changed the complexion of the game as he forced a tiebreaker.
In the crucial stretch of the second-set decider, it was Zverev who showed nerves of steel, capping off a 2-0 lead with a wide-angle backhand winner and a drop shot in the forehand side of Etcheverry.
After the hard-fought second-set clash, Zverev completely took over the match and scored back-to-back break points to secure the third-round spot.
