Alexander Zverev was also eliminated from the tennis tournament in Rome against his Russian rival Daniil Medvedev. The Olympic champion lost in the round of 2 on Tuesday 6: 6, 7: 3 (7: <>) and failed as last time in Monte Carlo at the world number three. There, after a close match, both had accused each other of acting unfairly. Once again, Medvedev complained about a spectator who had disturbed him, but overall the game was fair.
Medvedev now surprisingly meets Yannick Hanfmann, who is in the quarterfinals of a Masters tournament for the first time. The 31-year-old from Karlsruhe won against world number six Andrej Rublev from Russia after a strong performance 7: 6 (7: 5), 4: 6, 6: 3. After 101:2 hours of play, the qualifier converted his first match point with an ace and rewarded himself for a courageous performance with the biggest success of his career so far.
Zverev's double shift
"Of course, I'm a bit speechless about what kind of energy it was today. If I'm healthy, if I'm doing well, if things fit together, then I'm dangerous, especially on clay," Hanfmann said on Sky TV. "Of course, Sascha would be the best constellation, that would be cool," he said before Zverev had to compete in the same place for the second part of his double shift - and lost.
The Hamburg native won the continuation of his third-round game against the American Jeffrey John Wolf 6: 4, 7: 5 on Tuesday afternoon. On Monday evening, the game was stopped due to the bad weather when the score was 6: 4, 3: 3 from Zverev's point of view and postponed to the next day.
Unfair player?
The first set against Medvedev was over quickly. In the second, Zverev braced himself against the impending defeat and even had a set point. He made too many mistakes in the tie-break, and after almost two hours he congratulated him on his victory. As a result of the defeat, Zverev will fall behind Jan-Lennard Struff in the new world rankings and for the first time since August 2016 will not be the best-placed German player.
Before the match, Zverev reported that he had last spoken with Medvedev at the tournament in Madrid. On Tuesday, he was self-critical of his accusation that Medvedev was one of the most unfair players: "It was perhaps not so good of me to say that in the interview. It was right after the match. It might have been better if I had come to him." Medvedev's reaction was "not so good either". "Now we can look ahead. The rivalry should still remain fair," said Zverev.