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.