Come hail or rain water, Alexander Zverev could not be stopped on Wednesday at the BMW Open. Despite multiple weather delays, the German booked his place in the Munich quarter-finals with a memorable 7-6(3), 6-2 win against Jurij Rodionov.
"Munich is always special," the two-time champion said post-match. "We had a little bit of hail, we had snow, we had rain. We had some good tennis, we had some bad tennis, so everything was there."
Zverev closed out the opening set after a stoppage at 5-4, having saved four early break points, then cruised through the second behind a five-game surge that opened a 5-1 lead. The victory against Austria's Rodionov extended Zverev's winning streak against players outside the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings to 12 matches.
Making his 10th Munich appearance, the Hamburg native stopped a run of two consecutive opening defeats at the ATP 250 with a patient victory in heavy conditions.
"I'm happy to be through to the quarter-finals, first time in a few years," said Zverev, who is now 7-3 in his Munich openers. "Normally I come here and I visit Munich for one day and then I leave again, so it's nice that I'm actually staying here."
He will next meet Alex Michelsen or Cristian Garin, whose match was postponed to Thursday due to the weather. Third seed Taylor Fritz's opener against Alejandro Moro Canas was also pushed back, with the winner to face Jack Draper.
Make some noise for Jack Draper 📢
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 17, 2024
He moves on in Munich with a 4-6 6-1 6-1 win against Molleker 🔥@BMWOpen24 | #BMWOpen pic.twitter.com/sO7FUihMDG
Draper joined Zverev as the only other Wednesday winner, with the sixth seed knocking off German wild card Rudolf Molleker 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. The victory sent the 22-year-old into his 10th tour-level quarter-final (5-4), making him the first British quarter-finalist in Munich since Andy Murray won the 2015 title.
In his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Molleker, Draper gained a measure of revenge for a 2017 Berlin defeat in the juniors. The Briton hit nine aces and saved one of two break points against him in the win, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
© Copyright 1994 - 2024 ATP Tour, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way or by any means (including photocopying, recording or storing it in any medium by electronic means), without the written permission of ATP Tour, Inc.. Terms & Conditions | Privacy | Modern Slavery Statement | Feedback | Cookies
