Alexander Zverev played a very good match to triumph comfortably against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Miami Open.
Zverev's previous match was in the Indian Wells Open quarterfinal, where he was humbled by Carlos Alcaraz. That contest is one that will also be remembered forever for a delay due to a bizarre bee invasion that struck Court 1.
The German was completely outclassed after the players returned from that interruption from the bees. In truth, there was nothing Zverev could do due to Alcaraz's level. This match gave him a chance to mentally reset.
Zverev's opponent had a similar experience in Indian Wells. Auger-Aliassime was also knocked out by an outstanding performance from Alcaraz, and he too was seeking to respond to that setback at the Miami Open.
Unfortunately for the Canadian, he never settled against Zverev. Auger-Aliassime immediately found himself 0-40 down in the opening game of the match, but he recovered to see off that danger.
That resistance from Auger-Aliassime was immediately ended when Zverev broke in his opponent's next service game. Auger-Aliassime was making too many unforced errors and the German just needed to be solid.
It was also clear that the slow slow Miami conditions suited Zverev far more than Auger-Aliassime. It continued to help Zverev put many serves back into play and he broke again in the seventh game, before serving it out to claim the set 6-2.
Auger-Aliassime needed a strong start to the next set, but the opposite happened. He was broken in the first game of the set after more unforced errors, with his usually formidable forehand making many of these mistakes.
In truth, the rest of the set was very uneventful. There were no more break points throughout the match but that suited the German just fine. Zverev easily served it out to triumph 6-2 6-4 without facing a break point during the contest.
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