Eighth seed Alexander Zverev powered his way into the second round of the Rotterdam Open with a dominant display over Soonwoo Kwon.
The German has had an indifferent return to the tour following a long-term injury but there were flashes he was returning to the form that had taken him to World No.2 in June last year with a 6-4, 7-6, triumph over the South Korean in one hour 40 minutes.
Zverev hit 26 winners and 10 aces as he proved too strong for Kwon, who would have fancied himself to cause an upset in Rotterdam when the draw was made having already won on tour this year when winning in Adelaide.
But, the 25-year-old Zverev signalled his intent right from the off when breaking Kwon on his second break point and confidently consolidated that break when holding to 15 in his first service game of the match. Kwon was struggling to make any in-roads on the Zverev serve for the majority of the first set, with the man from Hamburg landing 76% of his first serves in and winning 82% of the points when doing so.
But, after Zverev had thrown away two set points at 5-4 and 40-15, Kwon finally had a chance to get the break back when getting a look at three break points - his first of the match. However, the Korean could only watch as Zverev again pulled out some big hitting with the ball in hand, taking the set on his fourth set point.
The pair shared comfortable holds at the start of the second, with it clear Kwon had set out like a man intent in getting back into the match, varying his shots a lot more and pulling Zverev into the net with his drop-shots. Both players were dominating on serve with not a break point in sight, Zverev again serving his way out of trouble when 0-30 down and at deuce in game eight.
But that was as close as the set got to any on-serve drama and it was destined for a tie-break to split the pair who had nothing between them. Again, both were struggling to make any dents to the player who was serving but it was Zverev who finally got the mini-break when forcing Kwon wide to lead 5-3.
He really should have made it 6-3 after he netted an overhead smash but as had been the theme throughout the match, his serve stayed strong and saw him over-the-line.
Zverev will now face home town boy Tallon Griekspoor in the next round after he overcame Mikael Ymer. He's now sure to add 45 points to his rankings and earn at least 30,345€ in prize money.
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