The champ is back, and he’s looking as good as ever. Top seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev took a 6-2 lead against Malek Jaziri of Tunisia at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., before rain suspended their match for the second time early Wednesday morning.

Zverev had just wrapped up the first set when rain fell again, around 1:10 a.m. local time. Their first-round match was first postponed with Zverev leading 3-0, and they didn’t resume until 12:50 a.m.

The 21-year-old Zverev lost only one first-serve point in the opener (10/11). He’s looking for his first hard-court title of the season after winning on clay at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich (d. Kohlschreiber) and the Mutua Madrid Open, his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (d. Thiem).

Stan Wawrinka, competing in his first outdoors hard-court match since January, showed signs of his old self but fell just short against American qualifier Donald Young 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3). Young led 5/3 in the second-set tie-break but Wawrinka came back to even the match. In the third, however, the 29-year-old Chicago native clinched his first match point. Young will next meet seventh seed Kei Nishikori of Japan.

“It was tough. I fought a lot of nerves there, but I’m happy the result was a ‘W’ at the end of the day. It’s tough playing Stan,” said Young, who won just his third tour-level match of the year. “I haven’t had a bunch of confidence this year. Closing matches is kind of a skill you get from winning, and I haven’t done that, but I was able to do that and quallies definitely helped.”

Australia’s #NextGenATP star Alex de Minaur came back to beat Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-3. De Minaur will next play 11^th seed Steve Johnson of the U.S.

Hometown favourite Denis Kudla earned a special victory against Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-4 in one hour, 57 minutes. Kudla is from nearby Arlington, Virginia, and he celebrated his first win during his fifth try at his hometown tournament. He will next meet 12^th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia.

American Jared Donaldson, who competed at the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, beat Aussie Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-6(4). Donaldson struggled on serve, donating 11 double faults and landing less than half of his first serves (42/90), but he persevered in one hour, 47 minutes and will next meet Greece’s #NextGenATP star Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Did You Know?
Zverev and his older brother Mischa Zverev have never played against each other in a tour-level match. But it could happen this week in Washington.

Fifth seed and defending champion Sam Querrey sped through his opener at the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex, needing only 49 minutes to beat Mexican wild card Lucas Gomez 6-2, 6-3.

“I feel like I played well. It’s good to get the first match out of my way, and hopefully just keep playing better and better,” Querrey said.

He dropped only eight points on serve (36/44), including only two on his first offering (23/25). The American will next meet Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, who beat Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 6-3.

Eighth seed Feliciano Lopez squeezed past Egyptian Mohamed Safwat 7-6(3), 6-4 to set a second-round showdown with Brit Cameron Norrie, who swept Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2. Norrie made his second ATP World Tour semi-final last week at the BB&T Atlanta Open (l. to Harrison).

Did You Know?
Last year, Querrey won both ATP World Tour tournaments in Mexico by winning in Acapulco and Los Cabos. Top seed Juan Martin del Potro is attempting to also complete the Mexican double this week.

Maximilian Marterer notched his first victory at the Generali Open on Tuesday, beating Jurgen Zopp 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The 23-year-old German fired 11 aces and saved six of seven break points to advance after two hours.

Marterer improved to 17-15 at tour-level this season and increased his FedEx ATP Head2Head lead over the Estonian to 2-0. Zopp entered Kitzbuehel in fine form, having reached his first tour-level semi-final from qualifying last week at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad (l. to Berrettini).

Marterer will face Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin for a spot in the quarter-finals. Kukushkin came from a set down to beat #NextGenATP Frenchman Corentin Moutet 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday.

Gstaad champion Matteo Berrettini extended his unbeaten streak to six, beating fifth seed Gilles Simon of France 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The 22-year-old Italian broke Simon three times and advanced after one hour, 55 minutes. Berrettini will next face Radu Albot of Moldova, who beat Slovakian Jozef Kovalik 6-1, 6-3.

Taro Daniel needed just 78 minutes to eliminate seventh seed Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(3), 6-1. The TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open titlist won 86 per cent of first-serve points and did not face a break point en route to victory.

Daniel will meet Laslo Djere in the second round. Djere, who reached the semi-finals in Gstaad last week, beat newly-crowned Hamburg champion Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3, 6-3.

Hamburg semi-finalist Nicolas Jarry continued his solid run of form, beating Ecuador Open winner Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-4. The Chilean will play third seed Fernando Verdasco for a spot in the last eight.

Did You Know?
Top seed Dominic Thiem is bidding to become the second Austrian to win the Generali Open. In 1993, Thomas Muster became the first Austrian champion in Kitzbuehel, beating Javier Sanchez in straight sets.