Alexander Zverev’s 2023 season continued to gain momentum Wednesday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, where the home favourite eased past Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.
Zverev broke Shapovalov’s serve in the opening game of the match on OWL Arena and barely looked back as he wrapped a 75-minute triumph in which he did not face a break point. The German won 82 per cent (28/34) points behind his first serve as he rode vociferous home support to his first Halle quarter-final since 2019.
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“I’m very happy with today,” said Zverev after defeating former Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov. “I’m especially happy with how I returned. I think the first return I missed was in the middle of the second set, so with that part I’m very happy.
“Moving forward, it’s not going to get easier. Nicolas Jarry is somebody that has an extremely big game, extremely suitable for grass courts, but I’m looking forward to the match.”
Zverev struggled to find his best form upon returning to ATP Tour action at the start of the season after recovering from a long-term ankle injury. Yet he looked back to his best in reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this month and is now 23-15 for the year after his latest win in Halle, where he reached the championship match in 2016 and 2017.
His quarter-final opponent Jarry also delivered a big-hitting performance on Wednesday to stun second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(7), 7-5. The Chilean struck 34 winners to Tsitsipas’ 22 for his sixth career victory against a Top 10 opponent.
Jarry had beaten Tsitsipas on grass in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019, and the 27-year-old delivered a confident one-hour, 52-minute display to advance to the quarter-finals on his Halle debut. Jarry, who lifted his second and third ATP Tour titles, respectively, in Santiago and Geneva this year, has risen two spots to No. 26 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run in Halle so far.
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