Alexander Zverev continued his bid for a comeback title after overcoming Australian Chris O’Connell in Dubai.
The German - who last played at the Dubai Championships in 2015 – has had an indifferent return to the tour following an ankle injury sustained at last year’s French Open, but won through here 7-5, 6-4 in a hard watch encounter that only needed two breaks of serve to settle it.
The match was dominated by long, baseline rallies with both players seemingly preferring not to take too many risks as the match settled into a cagey affair. Last week in Doha, O’Connell pushed eventual winner Daniil Medvedev all the way, losing in a deciding set, but he did that by dominating the net, a feature distinctly lacking in his play against Zverev.
Games continued to go with serve, but it was O’Connell who blinked first at the business end of the set as Zverev turned the screw to break to love with the scores at 5-5. The break, and the set was consolidated when the Australian World No. 92 went long with a backhand to hand Zverev the opening set.
The second set was more of the same, with comfortable service hold after service hold at 4-4. By this stage, the only break points in the match had been the three in O’Connell’s final service game of the first set - when Zverev converted the first. But Zverev again pushed the right buttons when it mattered and created himself an opportunity to end the O’Connell rhythm as he carved out three break points.
O’Connell saved all three, but Zverev wasn’t to be denied a fourth time as he reached an Aussie drop shot and forced his opponent long with the follow-up volley. Zverev knows he will be judged on tougher opponents than O'Connell on whether he has reached the levels that took him to World No.2. But he confidently served it out with a forehand winner closing the match to progress.
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