Shanghai (China), Oct 8 (EFE).- World tennis number 3, German Alexander Zverev, achieved a hard-fought victory against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (6), 2-6 and 7-6 (5). ) to close the round of 32 of the Shanghai Masters 1,000.
The first set lasted more than an hour and was marked by equality. Proof of this was the rage with which Zverev celebrated after winning the tie break.
However, the German fell apart in the second set, wasting up to three service turns in a row to go 5-0 down in less than half an hour, although he managed to make up for that result in the end.
Equality returned in the final set, with some exchanges of great merit that did not hide that Zverev wasted advantages – including no less than seven match points -, allowing Griekspoor, number 40 in the ATP ranking, to force a new sudden death in which ended up giving up after 2 hours and 48 minutes.
Zverev will meet in the round of 16 with the Belgian David Goffin, who came back from the American Marcos Giron: 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Griekspoor-Zverev put an end to an intense day in which more games than usual came together, taking advantage of the fact that the rain finally gave a respite after three days spent in water, which had caused multiple postponements of the matches on outdoor courts.
Precisely from one of those venues came the one who tomorrow will be the rival of the number two in world tennis, Carlos Alcaraz, the Frenchman Gaël Monfils, who beat his compatriot Ugo Humbert (7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-1 ).
In any case, the veteran French tennis player assured in statements to the press that he only has a “1%” chance of beating the Spaniard, even though he achieved it in the last duel between the two, in Cincinnati.
The other Spaniard – and Spanish-speaking, in general – who was still alive in the tournament, the Tenerife-born Roberto Carballés, said goodbye in the round of 32 against the American Ben Shelton, who will meet in the next round with the world number one, the Italian Jannik Sinner, whom he already eliminated last year in this same tournament and in that same phase.
Three other top 10 players in the ATP rankings played matches today, all of them winning: the Serbian Novak Djokovic, against the Italian Flavio Cobolli (6-1, 6-2); the American Taylor Fritz, against the Japanese Yosuke Watanuki (6-3, 6-4), and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, against the Australian Alexei Popyrin (7-6 (5), 6-2).
The Danish Holger Rune, 12th seeded in Shanghai, also qualified for the round of 16 after beating the Czech Jiri Lehecka (6-4, 7-5), and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (10th), who beat the Frenchman Alexandre Muller (6- 3, 7-5) and will meet in a high-tension duel with the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
The surprise of the day was the defeat of the American Frances Tiafoe, 13th seed, at the hands of the Russian Roman Safiullin (5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5)), who will be Djokovic’s rival in the round of 16 .
This last duel was marked by controversy at its end, as Tiafoe exploded against the chair umpire, the Ecuadorian Jimmy Pinoargote, following the loss of a serve due to loss of time in the tie break.
“Screw you, really! Three fucking hours and you do this to me! Why? You screwed up my match!” the American tennis player shouted at the referee. EFE
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