Alexander Zverev fights back to advance at 2022 Madrid Open
ATP
Alexander Zverev started his 2022 Madrid Open title defense with a win, even though he needed three sets to beat Marin Cilic.
After losing already in the first round of the 2022 Munich Open, the German will have a difficult task in the Spanish capital as he defends last year's title. After his loss in Munich, Zverev was very self-critical, calling the performance his worst in the last seven years.
Now, the 2021 Madrid Open champion could lose third place in the ATP Rankings to Rafael Nadal if he doesn't perform well enough in Madrid. However, he showed that he wanted to fight for every point as he defeated Cilic in three sets.
After losing in two sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo and Holger Rune in Munich, the German player, the second seed in Madrid, was on a four-set losing streak ahead of the opener at La Caja Magica.
He extended that streak to five consecutive sets lost after losing a 4-2 and 40-30 lead in the first set. The German player was a break up and had another breakpoint in the first set, but still lost it 4-6 and had a difficult task to deal with in the remainder of the match.
In the second set, he quickly broke his opponent's serve in the third game, and while he wasted three consecutive breakpoints in the fifth, he also managed to save four break points in the following games to win the second set 6-4 and force the decider.
In the third set, the story was a little bit less dramatic. Zverev started with a break in the opening game, and fans in the Spanish capital didn't see any more breakpoints. Both players held their serve firmly and lost only two points on serve from the fourth game of the third set until the end of the match.
In the next round, Zverev will take on the winner of the match between Sebastian Korda from the United States and Lorenzo Musetti from Italy.
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