‘Being introduced as Olympic gold medallist gave me goosebumps,’ says Alexander Zverev

ATP Tour
Alexander Zverev Tokyo Olympics gold medallist

Fresh from winning one of the biggest tennis titles in his career, Alexander Zverev continued his good form as he broke his duck at the Western & Southern Open.

It was a case of seventh time lucky for the German as he had lost his six previous matches at the ATP Masters 1000 event, but he finally grabbed his breakthrough win with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory over giant-killer Lloyd Harris in the second round.

After edging Harris – who has beaten the likes of Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka this year – in the tie-breaker, Zverev broke twice in the second set.

“I’m happy with how I am, I’m happy where I’m at and I’m happy to get my first win in seven years here,” the third seed said. “It’s obviously a great start to the week.”

The win was Zverev’s seventh in a row following his success at the Tokyo Games.

“It’s great. When I came on court and they said Olympic gold medalist, it did give me goosebumps,” he said. “It made me a little nervous at the beginning of the match, I have to say because it is a special feeling.”

Up next is Guide Pella after the Argentine beat Fabio Fognin 6-1, 7-5.

Alexander Zverev to win the Cincinnati Masters? Take a punt with Planet Sport Bet!

Meanwhile, top seed Daniil Medvedev set up a clash with Grigor Dimitrov on the back of a 6-2, 7-2 victory over Mackenzie Macdonald.

“Mackenzie can play good. Everybody who is in the second round of a Masters [1000] can play good tennis, we all know this,” the Russian said.

“It’s not easy to go from winning a tournament to another tournament in different conditions. You’re tired physically, especially in the first matches because then you get into the tournament and it gets easier.

I’m really happy that I managed to win quite easily. I was fighting a bit more for every point, trying to finish as early as possible.”

Alexander Zverev Lloyd Harris

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