Alexander Zverev continued his dominant Australian Open progress with a third consecutive straight-sets win on Friday in Melbourne. The No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings eased past Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, setting up a fourth-round showdown against the winner of the all-French matchup between Ugo Humbert and Arthur Fils.
While Zverev maintained his perfect set record this fortnight, he was broken for the first time in the tournament by the 23-year-old Fearnley. After 35 holds to begin his campaign, Zverev lost serve once in the second and third sets — though he sandwiched those games between two breaks of his own to come out ahead.
"I think my opponent did a great job of maximising today," Zverev said of Fearnley. "[He] was very aggressive, returning quite well. I'm happy with a straight-sets win. Much more difficult conditions to play [compared to previous rounds]. In the first few matches, [there] were perfect conditions, no wind at all. [Today was] obviously very different."
In the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, Zverev hit 25 winners and won 14 of 17 net points, according to Infosys Stats.
Hurtling through 🏃💨
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 17, 2025
Zverev soars on with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over Fearnley 🚀 @australianopen | #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/IVLpOouopj
By reaching the Australian Open fourth round for the sixth time, Zverev matched Boris Becker's Open Era record for German men. With 21 total Grand Slam fourth-round appearances, Zverev now trails only Becker's 31 for most among German men.
A Melbourne semi-finalist in both 2020 and 2024, Zverev is bidding for his maiden Grand Slam title this fortnight. A two-time major finalist, he came within a set of glory at the 2020 US Open and last year at Roland Garros.
Fearnley was bidding to become the seventh man to reach the Australian Open fourth round on debut in the past 10 years. Instead, the 2024 NCAA team champion with Texas Christian University (TCU) must settle for the consolation of leaving the hard-court Grand Slam at No. 77 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, up 15 places this week.
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