Alexander Zverev endured a highly complex match against Marton Fucsovics at the 2023 Paris Masters but ultimately won in three sets.
Fucsovics was always known as a pretty strong indoor player, and he demonstrated that today as well. He outplayed Zverev easily in the first set despite facing a really strong serving performance from the German.
Zverev hasn't played that well in recent weeks, but he's always a danger indoors as long as he serves well. He did in the opening set but was still overpowered by Fucsovics in most rallies, resulting in a 4-6 opening set loss.
Fucsovics had eight winners and only two unforced errors, which was a great stat line. The second set opened well for both players as they cruised in the first few games.
Zverev faced a break point at 2-2 but saved it only to waste a 40-0 lead on the serve of Fucsovics in the next game. He would waste another 40-15 lead at 4-4 on the serve of the Hungarian but then finally broke at 5-5 to win the second set 7-5.
Fucsovics didn't play as well in that set, slamming a lot of balls wide, while Zverev produced a much better effort from the baseline. Limiting the unforced errors while upping the winner numbers was crucial for the German.
He opened the second set with an early break but then played the worst service game of his match, giving it right back. That lifted his opponent up as Fucsovics cruised through his games comfortably.
Neither had any chances for a few games after that, but eventually, Zverev fought his way to another break point, converting it to take a 5-4 lead.
That was all Zverev needed as he finished it off in the next game. The final score was 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 behind five aces and 21 winners.