More misery for Zverev
BRISBANE, Australia: Alexander Zverev’s terrible run of form showed no signs of abating Tuesday after the German surrendered meekly to Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP Cup’s third round.
Canada won the tie in Brisbane 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the inaugural event’s quarter-finals.
It was Zverev’s third straight loss at the ATP Cup.
He fell to Australian Alex de Minaur in three sets in the first round before suffering a comprehensive 6-1, 6-4 loss to Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday.
The world number seven conceded he had major problems ahead of the first Grand Slam of the year.
His serve has been especially poor this week. He made only 54 per cent of his first serves against Shapovalov and 45 per cent against Tsitsipas, while he has served 31 double faults in the three matches and won just 30 percent of points on his second serve.
“Generally I’m not playing good, so there’s a lot of things that I still need to improve, but it’s the start of the season,” Zverev said.