‘Long way back’ for struggling Zverev after Oz Open exit
Melbourne: Struggling former world number two Alexander Zverev admited on Thursday he still had a long road to travel on his injury recovery ater being dumped out of the Australian Open in the second round.
The German 12th seed, a semi-finalist in Melbourne in 2020, lost to 107th-ranked Michael Mmoh 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on Margaret Court Arena.
It followed two defeats at the recent United Cup, Zverev’s first ATP matches since tearing ankle ligaments at the French Open in June.
A planned return at the Davis Cup in September failed to materialise when the 25-year-old pulled out ater experiencing “extreme pain”.
The two-time ATP Finals champion, who has dropped to 13 in the world, was clearly still struggling against the American Mmoh, hiting 58 unforced errors and having his serve broken eight times.
“I didn’t have any expectations. I didn’t have any goals, and it was a good test for me,” he said of being at the opening Grand Slam of the year.
“I played a five-seter (in the first round), and I know where I am physically. That’s about it. I guess I still have a long way back to where I was.”
Asked if his ankle was still troubling him, he replied that it was not.
“My foot is healthy, but I’m not at the physical level that I was. I’m not as fast,” he said.
“Definitely my conditioning is not as good as it was. So I think I still have a long way to go to there ... I think the last weeks I was geting beter and beter, and that is something very positive for me.”
Mmoh will play countryman J.J Wolf next, ater he beat Argentina’s 23rd-seeded Diego Schwartzman in three sets.
“Wow, this is the biggest win of my career without a doubt,” said Mmoh. “Life is crazy, this is insane.”
Meanwhile, World number four Caroline Garcia admited she was relieved to see off tricky lethander Leylah Fernandez in straight sets and take her place in the third round.
Garcia, of France, beat the 20-year-old former US Open finalist 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 in 1hr 52min on Rod Laver Arena to set up a meeting with Laura Siegemund of Germany.
“I’m pleased because she was prety much up all the time and winning her service games very easily,” said Garcia of the world number 40 from Canada.
At the end of a high-quality first set which saw one service break each, Fernandez upped a gear at the start of the tiebreak, stretching out to a 4-0 lead.
But a double fault at 4-1 gave Garcia a sniff and she capitalised, fighting back to 6-5 and sealing the set with an ace.
Neither could make inroads early in the second set with Garcia unable to maintain pressure on Fernandez, who lost the 2021 Flushing Meadows final to Emma Raducanu.
“On the serve she was using the slice very well,” said Garcia. “So I had to make a lot of adjustments and the winner was going to be the one who was more aggressive inside the court.”
Then at 5-5, Fernandez finally cracked as Garcia finally broke and then served out for the match, celebrating with a trademark leap of joy.