ATP
AO Men’s singles: Day 5 round-up
Seeds Alexander Zverev and Casper Ruud finished up four hour-plus marathons at almost exactly the same time to advance.
Tournament No. 6 Zverev fought off a furious attack from Slovak qualifier Lukas Klein, with the German winner admitting he was barely hanging in the contest, which he won 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (10-7)
The German, a second-round loser here a year ago, earned his 400th tour victory and has won his last 17 matches against qualifiers.
But Klein out-hit the seed 80 winners to 49 for Zverev.
Ruud, seeded 11th, managed a victory over Australian Max Purcell 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-7) .
“I would have much rather won in an hour and a half, but what can I do,” Zverev said.
“He played incredible, hitting every single ball as hard as he could frm both sides.
“I didn’t know what to do a lot of the time. He probably deserved to win this match more than I did, but that’s how tennis goes sometimes.”
No. 160 Klein left the seed trailing two set to one before the struggle finally ended in the final-set deciding tiebreaker.
“I was thinking their is a flight tonight at 11 p.m. to Dubai and then home,” Zverev admitted.
“A lot of the time I was just a spectator out there. The match was often in his hands.”
Ruud equalled his disappointing 2023 second round after starting 12 months ago as second seed.
The Norwegian also found himself involved in a fifth-set dogfight which went to the 10-point tiebreak.
“It was an incredible match which could have gone either way,’ the winner said. “He’s a tricky and good player.
“He plays fast and plays serve-and-volley, which is unorthodox these days. We’re not used to playing players like that.
“I was lucky a few points went my way near the end,” Ruud said after sealing victory on his first match point as Purcell drove a return long.
Carlos Alcaraz needed three and a half hours to deal with Italy’s determined Lorenzo Sonego before finally posting a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (3) win into the third round.
The Spaniard was playing the 200 Tour match of his two-and-a-half year career, finishing up with a vicious smash at the net on match point.
“I’m really happy with the performance today,” the 20-year-old winner said.
“He was playing at a great level.
“The match was a little tricky today with the wind. That can make it tough to play your best.
“But we had some good points, it was a great match.”
Brit Cam Norrie survived three rain interruptions as he rallied from two sets to love down for a 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri.
But Tommy Paul of the US ended the hopes of Britain’s Jack Draper, handing out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat.
American Alex Michelsen sprang a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 comeback surprise on Jiri Lehecka, sending out the Czech who won the Adelaide title at the weekend.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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