Coric stuns Zverev in battle of rising stars

NEWYORK:Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev started their second-round matches at the US Open on Wednesday around the same time, which was hard enough for the brothers’ parents.

But then their matches started to go south around the same time, too.

Mischa, the No 23 seed, won the first two sets of his match against Benoit Paire, but then lost the next two. And fourth-seeded Alexander, better known as Sascha, who was widely viewed as a potential breakout star of this Open, went down by two sets to one against Borna Coric.

Seventeen minutes after his older brother pulled off a five-set victory, Sascha crashed out of the tournament, losing, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1), 7-6(4). “Today was upsetting,” said Alexander Zverev, the highest seed in men’s singles to lose so far. “The way I played was upsetting. The tournament so far is upsetting for me. I know that I could have done some big things here. I know that I could have done something that I haven’t done before. But I won’t.”

With the late withdrawal of second-seeded Andy Murray, Alexander Zverev was the highest seed in his half of the draw, and he had a golden opportunity to make a deep run at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. But he still has not made it past the second round at the US Open. And his best result at a Grand Slam event is reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon this year. “It’s upsetting because the draw is pretty open in the bottom part,” Zverev said.