Two things that stood out in Alexander Zverev's 1R win over Alex Molcan at Hamburg European Open
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany thrashed Alex Molcan of Slovakia 6-0 6-3 in the first round of the Hamburg European Open last Tuesday, 25th July. The match was over within an hour and a half, as the 26-year-old German hardly offered any respite to his opponent.
Zverev will face his compatriot Maximilian Marterer in the second round on Wednesday. The big German is one of the favourites to win the tournament and desperately needs to do well in it to get over his barren run in 2023.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match:
#1. Zverev dominated with his forehand in the match:
Zverev is known to have one of the most potent backhands in the business. However, on Tuesday, his forehand did the trick for him. He kept pushing Molcan to either corner of the court with his forehand before going forward to the net to finish points with volleys and smashes.
The German put enough venom into his groundstrokes and also hit the angles really well. His crosscourt forehand kept troubling the Slovak throughout the match. He managed to serve Molcan a bagel in the first set, giving the southpaw virtually no chance to put up any resistance.
#2. Molcan fared slightly better in the second set:
Zverev continued his dominance in the initial stages of the second set as well, as the Slovak looked helpless at times. The German won the first three games of the second set, thereby winning the first nine games of the match.
Molcan displayed a hint of resolve thereafter and managed to win his first game of the match to reduce the deficit to 1-3. However, Zverev then had no problem maintaining the lead and thereby finish the match off in style.
Zverev’s powerful backhand rendered Molcan’s crosscourt forehand virtually ineffective in the match. The Slovak was able to win only 38% of the points on his second serve, while the German managed 75%.
The Slovak did not have a single break point opportunity in the match, but was broken four times himself in the match. It was a completely one-sided match that finished in a statement win for Zverev. He remains one of the favourites to win the whole thing this time around and should prevail in his next match quite easily.
However, Marterer might have other ideas on his home soil and will try to upset Zverev’s plans.