ATP Tour

Zverev prepares for double duty vs. Khachanov after finishing off Nakashima

The Lindner Family Tennis Centre used to be a House of Horrors for Alexander Zverev. These days, it feels more like a second home.

The World No. 3 on Wednesday improved to 14-2 at the Cincinnati Open since the beginning of his title run in 2021 after needing just one game to complete a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima to reach the fourth round, extending his perfect Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the American to 5-0. The match was suspended overnight due to a heavy storm that rolled through, denying Zverev the chance to serve out the match.

Later today, Zverev will have the chance to avenge his semi-final loss to Karen Khachanov last week in Toronto, where he let slip a match point. The German has his near-term sights set on reaching the semi-finals for the fourth time in his past four appearance.  His recent results are in stark contrast to six consecutive opening-round losses he suffered in his first six outings at the event.

On Tuesday night, Zverev rallied from 0/40 in the sixth game of the first set to avoid going down an early break and saved another break point in the second set in the first game back from a 20-minute rain delay. Resuming Wednesday, Zverev fell behind 0/30 on serve after two unforced forehand errors before steadying to close out the match.

With the win, Zverev claims his 41st win of the season (second only to Carlos Alcaraz's 50). He also moved to a tie with Andy Roddick for 10th place for most ATP Masters 1000 match wins since the series began in 1990.

Most ATP Masters 1000 Wins

After missing the event in 2022 due to his catastrophic ankle injury at Roland Garros earlier in the year, Zverev lost a tight semi-final to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in 2023 and pushed 2024 champion Jannik Sinner to a third-set tie-break in last year's semis.

Khachanov, who pushed Ben Shelton to a third-set tie-break in the Toronto final, improved to 7-1 on the US hard-court season with a 6-3, 6-3 win over American wild card Jenson Brooksby. He is up three places to No. 9 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings this week, just one spot below his career-high.

Last year Khachanov went 2-4 during the US summer, a slump that included a first-round loss at the US Open. But he won 12 of his final 14 matches of the season and has gone 29-17 this season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.