Alexander Zverev beat Jordan Thompson 7-5 6-4 to reach the reach the fourth round at the Miami Open.
Zverev won eight of his next nine games from 1-4 down in the first set to improve to 3-2 in his five head-to-head matches against Thompson.
The German player has clinched his 81st ATP Masters match win since 2020 breaking his tie with Stefanos Tsitsipas. The German player has won four Masters 1000 titles in Madrid and Cincinnati in 2021 and Rome and Paris in 2024. Zverev has a record of 19 wins to 9 defeats.
Thompson broke serve in the second game to take a 3-0 lead. Zverev broke back in the seventh game and held serve to 15 in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Zverev earned his second break in the 11th game to win the first set 7-5.
Zverev started the second set with an early break in the first game. The German player held on his next service games and sealed the win on his second match point.
“Jordan made it difficult for me for sure. He’s a quality player. When you’re in rhythm, he knows how to break [it] a little bit. So he did extremely well today. I’m happy with my level from 1-4 onwards, losing just one game out of [the next] nine.”, said Zverev.
Taylor Fritz beat Denis Shapovalov 7-5 6-3 avenging his recent defeat against the Canadian player in Dallas.
Fritz earned an early break in the second game of the opening set to open up a 5-2 lead. He let slip his lead when Shapovalov broke back in the ninth game and held serve in the 10th game to draw level to draw level to 5-5. Fritz closed out the first set 7-5 with a second break at love in the 12th game.
Fritz broke serve in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set and held on his next service games to seal the second set 6-3.
“If we went through that match in Dallas 10 times, I feel like I would win it more times than I would lose it. In that match he served really well. Today, I probably returned a little bit better, but I got more help from him as well. He threw in some double faults and overall I played well.”
