Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev has reached the second round at the Summer Games in Paris with a confident victory. The 27-year-old from Hamburg won his opening match against the Spaniard Jaume Munar on Sunday evening 6:2, 6:2.
Zverev's next opponent is the Czech Tomas Machac, number 39 in the world. The German number one has got a favorable draw; in the quarterfinals he could face world number seven Taylor Fritz (USA), against whom Zverev lost in the round of 16 at Wimbledon. Only in the semifinals does the Serbian top star Novak Djokovic threaten to become a tough opponent.
In Paris, Zverev is also with Laura Siegemund in mixed at the start, the duo is seeded number one. There, too, Zverev will face Machac, who with his Czech compatriot Katerina Siniakova takes office.
In addition to Zverev, the German men also reached Jan-Lennard Struff (Warstein) and Maximilian Marterer (Nuremberg) the second singles round. Struff had no trouble in the 6:2, 6:2 against the Portuguese doubles specialist Francisco Cabral. Marterer won a thriller against Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) 6:3, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3. (sid)
