Alexander Zverev is continuing to play really solid tennis as the German kickstarted his 2024 Cincinnati Open campaign with a solid performance and victory over Karen Khachanov.
Despite struggling with his health at the Olympic Games at Roland Garros, Zverev flew to Canada for the Canadian Open, and he actually played really well there. The run ended with a relatively tight match against Sebastian Korda, who won in three sets. It was unfortunate for Zverev because he seemed like a player who could go all the way, but it didn't really impact him too much.
In the first match since then, the German continued to play well, beating a really tricky player in Khachanov. The Russian hasn't had much success against Zverev in the past and is generally not considered on the same level. Zverev has been far better this year compared to Khachanov, and that was the case in this match as well.
Khachanov's main weakness is his streaky style. He can play amazing tennis, but that doesn't really last for the entirety of a match, and that's where he struggles against the World No. 4. The German is known as a wall due to how consistent he is. He's been especially consistent this year, and Khachanov was always going to struggle with that.
In the first set of this match, Khachanov failed to create any pressure with his serve. He didn't really hit it at a high rate anyway, so he had to try and do that in the rallies. He failed, missing a bit too much, and that was enough for Zverev to win the opening set. The German, on the other hand, outhit Khachanov and served better.
The serve, in particular, proved devastating, as he dropped only two points behind his opening serve in the entire set. His more aggressive style this year has generally caught a lot of players off guard, and Khachanov couldn't really match it either. Zverev was just the better player who outplayed his opponent consistently.
After taking the opening set 6-3, Zverev's persistence got him an early break in the second set, which he easily held for the 2-0 lead, as the Russian didn't seem like a player who had an idea of how to attack his opponent.
He barely won any points on return up until that point in the match, and now he was supposed to invent something on the spot. The chances were minimal, and it never really materialized, as Zverev was just too solid.
The German added another break to take a 3-0 lead, but Khachanov found a bit of a spark pulling that break back to make it 3-2. Zverev then had some minor issues in the next game, but he was able to hold his serve, which cut Khachanov's momentum a little bit. Had he gotten broke there, it might have become quite interesting.
Another break sealed it this time, as the German won the match 6-3, 6-2. Overall, it was a solid performance, and he was happy to escape any incoming rain because the match was briefly stopped due to a short shower.