Tokyo Olympic champion Alexander Zverev qualifies for the quarter-finals in the United States by defeating Yannick Sener | Other sports | Sports

German tennis player Alexander Zverev, the new Olympic champion in Tokyo 2020, qualified on Monday to the quarter-finals of the US Open, defeating young Italian Yannick Sener in three sets.

Zverev, another US Open runner-up, beat Sener 6-4 6-4 7-6 (9/7) in two hours and 25 minutes of play at Arthur Ashe Central Stadium in Flushing Meadows.

The fourth-seeded German in New York had a few moments of trouble in the third set, when the long-time Italian left glimpses of the talent that propelled him to add three ATP titles and the Miami Masters 1000 final.

The 20-year-old Sinner had five set-pieces but the German solved it by relying on his devastating serve (17 ‘aces’ versus 5 from his opponent).

Leading 5-4 in the third set, Sinner was placed with two set pieces that Zverev neutralized forcing him into long exchanges in which he waited and found the Italian’s easy fouls.

In the “tie-break”, Sener advanced 4-1 and enjoyed three more balls, but his mistakes gave air to the more experienced Zverev, who moved his finger as a sign of “no” looking at the stands after making sure of the victory.

“Confident players know what to do in these situations. Zverev congratulated himself.

“It was a top-level match from start to finish,” admitted the world number four, who revealed that he is very close to his Olympic gold medal after beating Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

“I hug her at night,” he said. “I don’t have a girlfriend, so the gold medal is sleeping next to me (…) It’s a little reminder of what happened last month to give me some energy.”

And so Zverev continues his path to his second straight final at Flushing Meadows, after losing in 2020 to Dominic Thiem in which he left a 2-0 lead.

The German will see himself in the quarter-finals with the cross-winner between American Riley Opelka and South African Lloyd Harris. (Dr)